Your homepage can show a list of your latest blog posts or a static page with custom content. Which setting you use depends on the templates that are included in your theme. To view the list of templates, go to the Administration Screen > Appearance > Editor > Templates.

• If your theme does not have a Home or Front page template, select the Add New button and create a new Front Page.
• If your theme has a Front Page template, click on the link with the template name to open the editor.
• If your theme has a Home template, you can edit the template or set what you want to appear in the Administration Screen > Settings > Reading.

To learn how to select a static page for your homepage, please see the support article Creating a Static Front Page.

How to customize your homepage

Latest Blog Posts

To customize your blog, go to Administration Screen > Appearance > Editor. The editor will open to your homepage, and you can start editing.

Block themes display lists of blog posts with the Query Loop block and the Post Template block.
The support article for the Query Loop Block explains how to configure the block.

When you add a block inside the post template block, it is repeated for every post in the list. The Post Title and Post Featured Image, Post Author, Post Date, Post Category, and Post tags are examples of blocks that you can use to customize your blog.

Static page

If you have selected a static page for your home page, and you want it to have a different design than other pages, you need to assign it a different template.

Follow these steps to assign an existing template:

1. From your wp-admin dashboard, head to Pages > All Pages.
2. From the list of pages, select the option to edit page you have set as your home page.
3. Once in the editor, open the settings sidebar.
4. Under “Template”, you can then select whatever Template you want your home page to use.
5. When you’re done, select “Update” to save the changes.

Follow these steps to create a new template:

1. From your wp-admin dashboard, head to Pages > All Pages.
2. From the list of pages, select the option to edit page you have set as your home page.
3. Once in the editor, open the settings sidebar.
4. Under “Template”, select New.
5. This will open the Site Editor to add blocks for create your template for your static homepage.
6. When you’re done, select “Update” to save the changes.

Please note that if you add a Front Page template in the Site Editor, it will always be used as the front page regardless of what setting you choose under Admin > Settings > Reading. You will need to either customize that template to your liking or remove it to then adjust the homepage settings again.

How to update your site icon

Block themes include the ability to use the Site Logo block which has built within it an option to set your Site Logo as your Site Icon. For context, the Site Logo simply displays whatever logo you set for your site whereas your Site Icon is also known as a favicon and it is used to help identify your website. To learn more about setting your Site Icon or favicon, please see the support article Creating a Favicon.

Follow the steps below to use the same image for the Site Logo and Site Icon:

1. Head to Appearance > Editor. This will open up your homepage.
2. Either find your Site Logo block added by your theme or add it to yourself wherever you’d like. Detailed instructions for adding blocks can be found here.
3. From there, you’ll see the option to upload or select an image to use from your Media Library.
4. After choosing an image and while still selecting the Site Logo block, open the block settings sidebar (uses the cog icon).
5. Under the settings for the Site Logo block, toggle on the option to “Use as site icon”.
6. Save your changes.

How to customize your site design at a global level

Since WordPress 5.9, you can set the colors, typography, layout, spacing, and more, for the entire site via Styles.
You can also edit the default appearance of blocks to streamline the look and feel of your site.
Fore more details, refer Styles Overview.

• Mood: Happy
• Currently Reading: Cinderella
• Listening To: Rock Around the Clock
• Weather: Hot and humid

With some extra coding, it is possible to achieve more complex actions, such as using the metadata to store an expiration date for a post.

Metadata is handled with key/value pairs. The key is the name of the metadata element. The value is the information that will appear in the metadata list on each individual post that the information is associated with.

Keys can be used more than once per post. For example, if you were reading two different books (perhaps a technical book at work and a fiction at home), you could create a “reading” key and use it twice on the same post, once for each book.

Here is an example of what this information might look like on your post:

Currently Reading: Calvin and Hobbes
Today's Mood: Jolly and Happy

Usage

Based upon our example above, let’s add two custom fields, one called “Currently Reading” and the other “Today’s Mood”. Please follow the below steps to add this information to a post using Custom Fields.

1. Custom Fields options on the Post & Page edit screens are hidden by default if they have not been used before. Using the Block Editor, click the three dots button at the top of the right sidebar and visit Options to enable it. (If you are using the Classic editor, check the screen options).
2. After you have written your post, scroll down to the area titled Custom Fields.
3. To create a new Custom Field called “Currently Reading”, enter the text “Currently Reading” (without the quotes) in the text entry field titled Name.
4. The newly created Key (“Currently Reading”) should now be assigned a Value, which in our case is the name of the book currently being read, “Calvin and Hobbes”. Type “Calvin and Hobbes” in the Value field, again without the quotes.
5. Click Add Custom Field button to save this custom information for that post.

To add your “Today’s Mood”, repeat the process and add “Today’s Mood” to the key and a description of your mood in the value text boxes and click Add Custom Field to save this information with the post.

On your next post, you can add a new book and mood to your metadata. In the Custom Fields section, the Key will now feature a pull-down list with the previously entered Custom Fields. Choose “Currently Reading” and then enter the new book you are reading in the value. Click Add Custom Field and then repeat the process to add “Today’s Mood”.

You only need to create a new “KEY” once, after which you can assign a value to that key for every post, if you so desire. You can also assign more than one Value to a key, for a post. This will come in handy for people who read more than one book at a time.

Displaying Custom Fields

To display the Custom Fields for each post, you have to use a template tag that customizes your theme. For more details about it, please refer to:

• the_meta() – Template tag that automatically lists all Custom Fields of a post
• get_post_custom() and get_post_meta() – Retrieves one or all metadata of a post.
• get_post_custom_values() – Retrieves values for a custom post field.
• Template Tags – WordPress Theme Developers Handbook page on Template Tags

You may install a plugin that manages custom fields by searching “custom fields” in the plugins directory.

What is a block theme?

A block theme is a theme that uses blocks for all parts of a site, including navigation menus, header, content, and site footer. These themes are built for the newest features coming to WordPress that allow you to edit and customize all parts of your site. This allows you to switch up key parts of your theme without ever needing to change themes.

With a block theme, you can place and edit blocks outside your content using the Template Editor or Site Editor. You can use blocks in templates provided by a theme or plugin. For example, an archive page or a 404 page. You can also create custom templates.

For general information about themes, see the support article What is a theme?

How do this impact widgets and widget areas?

Instead of widgets, a block theme relies on blocks. This means that you can place blocks anywhere you might have previously wanted widgets to appear.

How does this impact the Customizer?

The Customizer is not available in block themes unless you are using a plugin or theme that requires it to be activated. This is because you can make the same changes you might make with the Customizer with blocks. For example, there are now blocks for the site title, tagline, and site logo. You can also select colors for your website in the Styles setting by going to Administration Screen > Appearance > Editor (beta).

How to find block themes

You can find block themes in the WordPress theme directory by selecting Block Themes in the toolbar. This automatically takes you to a filtered view of all themes with Full Site Editing functionality.

For general information about how to get new themes, see the support article Get new themes.

What options are available with block themes?

After activating a block theme, more tools and features will be available to you including the following:

• Site Editor: an editor that allows you to edit all parts of your site, navigate between templates, and more.
• Styles: a feature that allows you to customize your site, including individual blocks, as much as you’d like with different colors, typography, layouts, and more.
• Templates: edit, create, and manage templates that a page or post uses.
• Template parts: a way to organize and display groups of blocks as part of a block template mainly for site structure, like Headers and Footers.
• Theme blocks including the Navigation Block, Query Loop block, and more.

Using these options you can create the desired look and feel of your site without switching themes as often.

When should I use a block theme?

Block themes were introduced in WordPress since the 5.9 release. If you like exploring new things, enjoy building content with the block editor and like to have full control over all parts of your site, block themes are a great solution for you.

If you’re comfortable doing so, it might help to set up a test site to try out a block theme first to see if it will work for you.

How are block themes different from classic themes?

Block themes are built for the newer functionality in WordPress and allow you to use blocks to edit all parts of your site, including easier ways to quickly customize everything from your background colors to font sizes for all Heading blocks etc. Comparatively, classic themes are built with PHP templates, functions.php and more that include features like Widgets, a dedicated Menus section, the Customizer, and more. Classic themes do not work with the Site Editor.

Resource Links

• Learn WordPress course on Simple Site Design with Full Site Editing
• Build a block theme

The border settings are available when you use the block editor. If you are new to the block editor, this guide will show you how to work with blocks. You can read more about the new block editor features and improvements in this article.

How to access border settings

The border settings can be found in the Block Settings sidebar of a block under the section Border.

If you don’t see the Block Settings sidebar, select the block you want to customize, then click the settings icon that is to the right of the Publish or Update buttons in the WordPress Editor.

In the Border section, some options may be hidden. Click on the three-dot border options menu (also known as an ellipsis) to explore all the typography settings that are not visible by default.

You can read more about block settings here.

Type of settings

Each supported block comes with different border settings. If you make customizations to these settings and want to revert back to the original settings quickly, you can do so by selecting the three-dot menu icon and clicking Reset All as shown in this article. This resets the settings and removes all of your changes. Note that not every block supports all the border settings.

Width

The width setting allows you to define the width of the border on the four sides.

You can type in a value in the text box or use the slider to adjust the value.

You can click on the Link icon to unlink the sides and set separate values for the border width for the top, left, right and bottom.

You can choose to set border width using different units. Click the PX icon to change the unit of measurement for the border thickness or radius. You can choose between PX, %, EM, REM, VW, and VH.

Read more about what each of these units means.

Color

The border color for your block can be set using the style picker next to the border width as seen below. You can the colors from the theme palette or from the default colors in the theme.

If you make customizations to these settings and want to revert back to the original settings quickly, you can do so by selecting the Reset to default button at the bottom of the color picker. This resets the settings and removes all of your changes.

Style

From the color picker, you can also select one of the three border styles: straight line, dash line, and dotted line.  

Radius

The radius setting will give your block a more rounded border. Setting this to 0 means the block has sharp edges.

You can choose to set a border radius using different units. Click the PX icon to change the unit of measurement for the radius. You can choose between PX, %, EM, REM, VW, and VH.

Read more about what each of these units means.

You can type in a value in the text box or use the slider to adjust the value.

You can click on the Link icon to unlink the radii and set separate values for the four corners. Below is an example of how you can have unlinked values to create a block with uneven round corners.

Note that when you unlink the radii, hover over the radii text boxes to display a tooltip that shows which corner each of the four text boxes relates to as shown below:

Blocks that include border settings

• Avatar
• Button
• Code
• Column/Columns
• Comments Title
• Group
• Image
• Post Featured Image
• Pullquote
• Read More
• Search
• Table

Demonstration

This powerful set of tools allows for some neat ways to decorate everything from individual images to overall columns of content. To see how borders can transform a block, here’s an example showing how a theme author can customize a featured image block to make it stand out even more: 

With more types of reusable content you can create with WordPress, this article seeks to clarify when it makes sense to use certain types in different situations to help guide you to make the best decisions possible. At a high level, this will focus on Template Part blocks, Block Patterns, and Synced Patterns (Reusable Blocks).

WordPress 6.3 renamed Reusable Blocks to Patterns. A synced pattern will behave in exactly the same way as a reusable block.

Template Part

The Template Part block is an advanced block that can be used with a block theme or a theme that supports template editing. They often come with your theme and are used to organize and display your site structure. For more information, you can learn more in the Template Part block support article. 

Synced pattern (Reusable block)

Synced pattern is a kind of block pattern that enabled Synced option, and it will behave in exactly the same way as a reusable block. Editing the synced pattern will update it anywhere it is used. After creating a synced pattern, you can ‘Detach’ it to a regular block, and edit the block without affecting your already saved synced pattern. For more information, you can learn more in the Synced Pattern article.

Block Patterns

Block Patterns are a collection of predefined blocks that you can insert into posts and pages and then customize with your own content. For more information, you can learn more in the Block Pattern support article.

Here’s a table comparing these different options to each other: 

Site structure means it should not be a part of your content, like a post or page. Syncing ability touches on whether if you update it in one spot, it updates everywhere the same block is used. 

Guidelines

Based on the above, this means it’s best to use template parts and Synced pattern for things you want to have in sync with each other whereas patterns are best for content that you expect to change across your site. 

In general, template parts should not be added to a Synced pattern or a regular pattern since this is meant to represent site structure rather than content. A template part can include a Synced pattern though or be built using patterns! You can also use block patterns to build templates and template parts, but you should not use a template part inside a pattern.

Situationals

Repeated content across your site

This could be everything from how to get in touch to your business hours to your social media accounts. To avoid having to add the same content to a paragraph block every time you want to place it at the end of your post, you can make it a Synced pattern. 

Repeated structure across your site

For anything that’s more about site structure that’s repeated across your site, like a Header or Footer, it’s best to use a template part. These carry semantic meaning within block themes so it’s important to make the distinction. 

Repeated design or layout

When it’s less about content and more about wanting to repeat a design or layout, patterns are best to use. This is because the content doesn’t need to be synced and, instead, what you want repeated is how something visually looks. 

A favicon is typically a graphic 16 x 16 pixels square, and is saved as favicon.ico in the root directory of your server. You can use a favicon with any WordPress site on a web server that allows access to the root directories.

WordPress Version 4.3 or later

WordPress Version 4.3 implemented a Site Icon feature that enables favicons on your web site.

When you use the Site Icon feature, you don’t need to prepare the favicon.ico file by yourself, or modify your template file. All you have to do is navigate to the Customize screen and specify a square image that has a height and width of at least 512 px.

Later paragraphs in this article contain instructions for manually setting up your own favicon. However, it is highly recommended that you use the Site Icon feature (a feature that is built-in to WordPress) instead.

Follow the steps below to use Site Icon to set up a favicon for your site.

1. Prepare the image file. (It must be square, having a height and width of at least 512 px.)
2. Navigate to Administration Screen > Appearance > Customize
3. Click Site Identity
4. Click Select Image (located under the Site Icon subheading).
5. Click on the Upload Files tab, then click Select Files to upload the image file that you prepared in the previous step.

Creating a Favicon

A favicon can be created by using any graphics/image editing software that allows the saving of .ico files. There are also online services that will allow you to create a favicon for free.

The image should be clear and visually appealing. Ideally it should be designed to match your site’s brand image and/or content.

To prepare the image to be saved as favicon.ico:

1. Make the image square by cropping or adding space around it.
2. Resize the image to 16 x 16 pixels.
3. Save the file as favicon.ico.

If you’re using an online service to create your favicon (such as Faviconer.com or Dynamic Drive) follow the instructions provided by the site, and then download the favicon.ico image to your computer.

Installing a Favicon in WordPress

If your theme or your WordPress version does not support the Site Icon option described above, you can use this method to manually add a Favicon.

If there is already an old favicon.ico file in your current theme’s main folder, delete it using an FTP Client.

1. Use an FTP Client to upload the new favicon.ico file into your current theme’s main folder.
2. Upload another copy of your favicon.ico file to the main directory of your site (ex. http://example.com/favicon.ico). This will display the favicon in your subscribers’ feed readers.

In order for your favicon to show up in some older browsers, you will need to edit your page header. (Remember, the best way to edit your theme’s files is via a Child Theme. As you follow along with the following instructions, it is highly recommended that you create and modify the copy of header.php that is located in your child theme.)

1. Go to your WordPress Administration Screen.
2. Click on Appearance.
3. Click on Theme Editor.
4. Select the file called Header or header.php to edit the file.
5. Search for the line of code that begins with <link rel="shortcut icon" and ends with /favicon.ico" />. Overwrite it, if it exists, or add the following code below the HTML tag:

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="<?php echo get_stylesheet_directory_uri(); ?>/favicon.ico" />

Save the changes.

How to create a favicon with a transparent background

Before implementing this method, please make sure that your source image already has a transparent background, which means it should be a GIF or a PNG. The rest of the steps are as mentioned above. The one difference in the code is that, instead of using a favicon.ico file, use favicon.png or favicon.gif instead.

Search for the line of code that begins with <link rel="shortcut icon" and ends with /favicon.ico" />. Overwrite it, if it exists, or add the following code below the HTML tag:

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="<?php echo get_stylesheet_directory_uri(); ?>/favicon.png" />

To see your new favicon, clear your browser’s cache. You may need to restart your browser in order to see the new favicon.

Advantages of using .ico over .png or .gif

1. Compatibility – As of this writing, most modern browsers–except for iOS Safari and Opera Mini–support the .ico format.
2. Avoid 404 server errors – Virtually all modern browsers will request a favicon.ico, so it’s best to always have a favicon.ico file, to avoid a “404 not found” error.
3. An .ico file can hold more than one icon, so there is no need to include multiple files for 16×16 and 48×48 icons.

Plugins are ways to extend and add to the functionality that already exists in WordPress.

The core of WordPress is designed to be lean and lightweight, to maximize flexibility and minimize code bloat. Plugins offer custom functions and features so that each user can tailor their site to their specific needs.

For instructions and information on downloading, installing, upgrading, troubleshooting, and managing your WordPress Plugins, see Managing Plugins. If you want to develop your own plugin, there is a comprehensive list of resources in Plugin Resources.

Plugin Repositories

WordPress Plugins are available from several sources. The most popular and official source for WordPress Plugins is the WordPress.org repo.

• Official WordPress Plugins Repository

Just to note, not all WordPress Plugins make it into the above repository. Search the web for “WordPress Plugin” and the keywords for the type of functionality you are seeking. There is bound to be a solution out there for you.

Default Plugins

The following two plugins are included with WordPress core: Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not. You can review the spam it catches under “Manage” and it automatically deletes old spam after 15 days.

See all of the features in Akismet here: https://wordpress.org/plugins/akismet/

Hello Dolly This is not just a plugin, it symbolizes the hope and enthusiasm of an entire generation summed up in two words sung most famously by Louis Armstrong. Hello, Dolly. This is, by the way, the world’s first official WordPress Plugin. When enabled you will randomly see a lyric from “Hello, Dolly” in the upper right of your Administration Screens on every page.

The layout settings are available when you use the block editor. If you are new to the block editor, this guide will show you how to work with blocks. You can read more about the new block editor features and improvements in this article.

How to access layout settings

To access the layout settings (in the parent block), click on any of the child blocks. The first icon in the block toolbar of the child block will select the parent block. In the block settings sidebar in the parent block, you will find the Layout section as shown below.

Navigating through nested blocks

The List View tool can be used to navigate between layers of content and nested blocks. This will make it easy to access the parent and child block.

To open List View, select the List View icon from the Top Toolbar of the block editor as shown above. It will remain open as you navigate through your content and stay open until you close it by either selecting the “x” or by selecting the List View icon again.

Learn more about the List View.

Type of settings

Each supported block comes with different layout settings. If you make customizations to these settings and want to revert back to the original settings quickly, you can do so by selecting the three-dot menu icon and clicking Reset All as shown in this article. This resets the settings and removes all of your changes.

Justification

You can set the justification of the child blocks inside the parent block. You can justify the child blocks to the Left, Center, or Right.

Some blocks like buttons block will have the option to add Space between items which lets you add equal space between them. Space between items is applicable only for horizontal orientation. Eg: The buttons block is centered with equal spacing between the buttons if you have more than 1 button within the buttons block. If the child blocks are set to be vertically aligned, you will not be able to put space between them.

The justification settings can be found on the parent block’s toolbar and sidebar settings.

Orientation

When you first add multiple blocks to a parent block, the child blocks will be displayed horizontally (i.e. next to each other.)

Another option is to display the child blocks vertically (i.e., stacked in the parent block).

Allow to wrap to multiple lines

By turning on the Allow to wrap to multiple lines setting, the child blocks will move to the next line when there isn’t enough space on smaller screen sizes (mobile device). With this setting off, all the child blocks will stay on the same line no matter the screen size.

Customizing layout width

Some blocks such as the Query Loop block that has nested inner blocks like Post Template block and Group block will have the following layout option that lets you choose the layout width for the nested blocks.

Toggle off Inner blocks use content width so that the nested inner blocks fill the width of the parent container.

Toggle on Inner blocks use content width so that the nested inner blocks use content width with options for full and wide widths. You can set the value for full width by typing in a value in the Content textbox. You can also set the value for wide width by typing in a value in the Wide textbox. You can also set the unit in PX, %, EM, REM, VW, or VH for the Content width and Wide width. You can also change the Justification for the nested elements to left, center or right aligned within the parent container.

Blocks that include layout settings

• Buttons
• Column
• Columns
• Comments Pagination
• Gallery
• Group
• Navigation
• Post Content
• Post Template
• Query
• Query Pagination
• Social Links

Demonstration

To see these specific container-related options in play here’s an example with the navigation block where you can quickly switch between different configurations as you find which best fits with the header of your choosing.

You can read more about the new Block Editor features and improvements in this article.

WordPress Plugins are PHP scripts that extend the functionality of WordPress. They enhance the features of WordPress or add entirely new features to your site. Plugins are often developed by volunteers and are usually free to the public.

Plugins are available via the WordPress Plugin Directory. Although plugins you find here are thoroughly tested and considered safe to use, they are of varying quality and are often works in progress.

How do they relate to WordPress core?

The WordPress content management system software, or WordPress core, provides the primary functionality for publishing content and managing users. Each WordPress plugin is an additional piece of software that can be easily installed to extend the functionality of WordPress core.

This allows you to customize your WordPress site with your desired functionality. Since so much functionality is provided through plugins, WordPress core is full-featured and customizable, without having to include everything for everyone.

What are some examples?

Some of the more popular plugins in the WordPress Plugin Directory fall into these categories:

• Spam control
• SEO
• Data import and export
• E-commerce
• Security
• Caching

This is just a small sample. There are thousands of plugins available in the directory, so there’s a good chance you’ll find some that are useful to you.

Finding and Installing Plugins

Finding Plugins

You can browse and search for plugins in the WordPress Plugin Directory. Each plugin listed there is available for download as a zip file you can upload to your WordPress site.

An alternative way to find and install plugins is from within the WordPress admin screens. Navigate to Plugins > Add New, and you can browse and search for plugins from within your dashboard. 

Each plugin listed there has an “Install Now” button so you can easily add it to your site.

Plugin Compatibility

If a plugin hasn’t been updated since the most recent update to WordPress core, it may be incompatible, or its compatibility may be unknown. You can view compatibility information about plugins from the Add Plugins page, or from the Installed Plugins list.

Compatibility of New Plugins

To learn about the compatibility of a plugin before you install it, navigate to Plugins > Add New. Each plugin description on this page includes a note that reads “Compatible with your version of WordPress” or “Untested with your version of WordPress.” You can click the “More Details” link to see information about this plugin’s compatibility.

Compatibility of Installed Plugins

To learn about the compatibility of plugins you’ve already installed, click the “Plugins” link in the left nav of your site’s dashboard. Each item on this list should contain a “View details” link. Click this to see information about this plugin’s compatibility with different versions of WordPress.

Installing Plugins

There are 3 ways to install WordPress plugins.

Automatic Plugin Installation. Any plugin available in the WordPress Plugins Directory can be installed via the built-in plugin installer.

Upload via WordPress Admin. You can easily add a new plugin by uploading a zip archive of the plugin from your local computer.

Manual Plugin Installation. In some cases, you may need to manually upload a plugin directly using an SFTP client.

Automatic Plugin Installation

This is the simplest method of installing a plugin. To add a plugin using the built-in plugin installer:

1. Navigate to Plugins > Add New.

2. Use the search form in the top-right to search by keyword, author, or tag.

3. On the search results that appear, click a plugin’s title or the link ‘More Details’ to read more about it, including installation notes, plugin documentation, or other useful information.
4. Click the Install Now button to install the plugin.
5. Once the plugin installation is complete, click Activate to activate the plugin.

Upload via WordPress Admin

If you have a copy of the plugin as a zip file, you can manually upload it and install it through the Plugins admin screen.

1. Navigate to Plugins > Add New.
2. Click the Upload Plugin button at the top of the screen.

3. Select the zip file from your local filesystem.

4. Click the Install Now button.

5. When the installation is complete, you’ll see “Plugin installed successfully.” Click the Activate Plugin button.

Manual Plugin Installation

In rare cases, you may need to install a plugin by manually transferring the files onto the server. This is recommended only when absolutely necessary, for example when your server is not configured to allow automatic installations.

This procedure requires you to be familiar with the process of transferring files using an SFTP client. It is recommended for advanced users and developers.

Here are the detailed instructions to manually install a WordPress plugin by transferring the files onto the webserver. 

1. Download the plugin zip file from the WordPress Plugin Directory and unzip it locally. For example, in the case of Gutenberg plugin, download as gutenberg.X.Y.Z.zip (X.Y.Z is version) and unzip it to get the gutenberg/ folder.
2. Transfer the extracted folder to the wp-content/plugins directory of your WordPress site via SFTP or remote file manager.
3. From the Plugins menu in the Administration Screen, click Activate for the transferred plugin.

Plugin Favorites

You can add a plugin to your list of favorites, and you can view and easily install another WordPress.org user’s favorite plugins.

Favorite a Plugin

1. Log in to the WordPress Plugins Directory using your WordPress.org ID.
2. Find the plugin you want to like and go to the plugin’s page.
3. Click the heart icon next to the Download button.

4. Once you have favorited a plugin, it will show up in your WordPress.org public profile. If you have published a review of the plugin, your rating of the plugin will also appear here.

View a User’s Favorite Plugins

To see a WordPress.org user’s favorite plugins (including your own):

1. Browse to the Add Plugins admin screen (Plugins > Add New).
2. Click the Favorites tab.

3. Type the user’s name in the “Your WordPress.org username” field.

4. Click Get Favorites.
5. Each of the plugins listed here has an ‘Install Now’ button that you can use to add the plugin to your site.

Updating Plugins

Plugin developers update their plugins occasionally by adding new features, improving code quality, and keeping them secure. To ensure that these changes are applied on your site immediately, you should keep your WordPress plugins up to date. This helps to improve your site’s WordPress security and performance.

Manual Plugin Update From The Dashboard

Your WordPress Dashboard automatically notifies you when a plugin needs to be updated — you can view this notification under the Dashboard->Updates tab. 

1. Scroll down to the Plugins section.

2. Select the checkbox for the plugins you want to update and then click  ‘Update Plugins’ button.

NOTE: Always make sure you have a current backup of your site before updating your plugins. Sometimes problems can happen during the update process.

Manual Plugin Update From The Plugins Page

You can find the plugins that need to be updated on your site’s Plugins page. 

To find any plugins installed on your site that need to be updated:

1. Click the “Plugins” link in the left nav of your site’s dashboard.
2. Look down the list of installed plugins for any that include a line reading “There is a new version…”
3. Click the “View version…” link in that note to view details about the plugin’s update.
4. Click the “update now” link to update the plugin.

NOTE: Always make sure you have a current backup of your site before updating your plugins. Sometimes problems can happen during the update process.

Enable Automatic Plugin Update

WordPress introduced automatic updates for WordPress plugins in WordPress 5.5. This allows you to enable automatic updates for individual WordPress plugins directly from the Plugins Page in the WordPress dashboard.

1. Go to Plugins -> Installed Plugins page inside WordPres Admin area. Here you’ll see the list of all your installed plugins.  Each plugin in the list has a link ‘Enable auto-updates’ in the right-most column (under Automatic Updates).
2. Select the checkbox for the plugins you want to enable auto-update and click the link  ‘Enable auto-updates’ for the selected plugin. This will enable automatic updates for the selected plugin.

 Disable Automatic Plugin Update

  To stop your plugins from updating automatically, do the following:

1. Go to Plugins -> Installed Plugins page inside WordPres Admin area. Here you’ll see the list of all your installed plugins.  
2. Each plugin in the list that has auto-update enabled will have a link ‘Disable auto-updates’ in the right-most column (under Automatic Updates).
3. Select the checkbox for the plugin you want to disable auto-update and click the link  Disable auto-updates’ for the selected plugin. This will disable automatic updates for the selected plugin.

Bulk Update WordPress Plugins

If you have several plugins on your website that need an update, then you can bulk update those plugins.  It is always recommended to do a quick review of all the plugins before updating.

1. Go to the Plugins page and click on the ‘Update Available’ link. This will show you the list of all plugins that have updates available.

2. Click the checkbox to select all the plugins you want to update.

3. From the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop down, select ‘Update’ and click ‘Apply’.

If all goes well with the updates, you will see a message saying that the updates were completed successfully.

Uninstalling Plugins

Plugins have a safe and easy-to-use uninstaller. If that is not available, you can also manually uninstall the plugins.

Automatic Uninstallation

The safe and easy way to uninstall a plugin is via the WordPress admin screen.

1. Navigate to your Plugins admin screen and locate the plugin to be uninstalled.
2. Select the checkbox next to the plugin name and click the “Deactivate” link.

3. Once the plugin is successfully deactivated, click the plugin’s “Delete” link.

Manual Uninstallation

In rare cases, you may need to uninstall a plugin by manually deleting the files from the server. This is recommended only when absolutely necessary, for example when your server is not configured to allow automatic uninstallation.

1. From the Plugins menu in the Administratio Screen, click Deactivate for your plugin.
2. Access to your WordPress site via remote file manager.
3. Go to wp-content/plugins directory.
4. Remove your plugin folder.

Reinstalling Plugins

To reinstall the plugin, refer to the documentation above, remove it once, and then install it.

Troubleshooting

Occasionally, a WordPress Plugin may not work as expected. This section provides helpful resources and steps you can take for troubleshooting plugin issues.

Resources To Help Diagnose The Issue

• Review the plugin’s documentation to confirm that you’ve followed the instructions. You can find this information in the Plugins page under the name of each Plugin > View details.

NOTE: If you have access to the plugin files, you can also find this information in the Plugin’s folder inside readme.txt.

• Search the WordPress Support Forums for the name of the Plugin and keywords associated with the problem you are experiencing or the specific error message that is displayed.
• Search the WordPress Plugins Directory for the name of the Plugin. On the Plugins page, select the Support tab to read about issues reported in the Support Forums for that plugin.

• Go to the website of the plugin author and check their blog and Plugin page for known issues or advice.

• Search the web with the name of the Plugin and keywords associated with the problem you are experiencing or the specific error message that is displayed.
• Post a question in the WordPress Support Forums with the name of the Plugin and keywords associated with the problem you are experiencing or the specific error message that is displayed. Make sure to include the problem in the title of the question. For advice on how to improve your chances of getting help, see Finding WordPress Help.

Possible Resolutions

Make sure that the plugin is activated after it is installed. 

1. Go to the Plugins > Installed Plugins from the WordPress admin screen.
2. Find the Plugin and click ‘Activate’.

If you know which plugin is causing the issue: 

1. Deactivate that plugin and activate it again to see if this helps.

2. In some cases, the plugin may be buggy or incompatible. Deactivate the plugin. Search for other similar plugins, install and activate it and see it this revolves the issue.

If you don’t know which plugin is causing the issue: 

Sometimes problems may be caused by a conflict with different WordPress plugins. There are a few different ways you can tell which plugin is causing the issue.

• You installed a single plugin and experienced issues with your site soon after that.
• You updated a single plugin and experienced issues with your site soon after that.
• There’s an error message telling you exactly which plugin file is causing the issue. 
• Try deactivating plugins one at a time until you find the one that’s causing the issue. 
• Once you find the plugin that is causing the issue, you can either deactivate and activate it again to see if this helps. Or you can find other similar plugins from the WordPress Plugins Directory, install and activate it and see if this resolves the issue. 

Plugin Management

Plugins are managed from the Plugins admin screen of your WordPress site. 

Here you will find a list of all installed plugins, whether they are active or inactive. From this screen, you can activate, deactivate and delete plugins. 

Plugins listed in bold are currently active.

Each plugin on the list also contains links to further information about the plugin. 

Must-Use Plugins

Must-use plugins (a.k.a. mu-plugins) are plugins installed in a special directory inside the content folder and which are automatically enabled. 

Must-use plugins do not show in the default list of plugins on the Plugins page and cannot be disabled except by removing the plugin file from the must-use directory, which is found in wp-content/mu-plugins by default.

For more details, please refer Must Use Plugins.

Developing Plugins

The WordPress community relies on plugin developers to maintain a healthy and growing collection of plugins. A large part of what makes WordPress valuable is the extensive and freely available plugins. 

You can help WordPress users by creating your own plugins for distribution through the WordPress plugin directory.

You can get started with the WordPress plugin development using the resources in the WordPress Plugin Developer Handbook.

The position settings are available when you use the block editor. If you are new to the block editor, this guide will show you how to work with blocks.

How to access position settings

To access the position settings, either add a Group, Row, or Stack block to the root of your content, meaning not placed within another block. In the block settings sidebar of the block you added, you will find the Position section as shown below.

Type of settings

Each supported block comes with two different position settings. Automatically, blocks will use the “Default” option. You can switch between these two options as you’d like. If you do not see these settings, it’s because the block either doesn’t support the positioning option or, if it’s one of the blocks listed under blocks that include these settings, the block is not placed in the root of your site, meaning not placed within another block.

Default

This is the option chosen automatically. It allows a block to be positioned as it usually is in relation to other blocks.

Sticky

This option allows you to keep top-level blocks fixed to the top of a page as visitors scroll. This matches the CSS property of the same name.

Blocks that include position settings

As a reminder, this setting will only show for the following blocks when that block is placed at the root of your site, meaning not placed within another block.

• Group
• Row
• Stack

Demonstration

Making a Header Template Part sticky

A common use case for the sticky positioning option is having a header that sticks to the top of the page as a visitor scrolls. To accomplish this, follow these steps:

1. Open List View and select the Header Template Part block. Ensure this Header Template Part block is not placed within another block.
2. Select the three dot menu either in List View or the block toolbar and choose the option to Group. This will wrap the Header Template Part block in a Group block.
3. Select the Group block that was just created and open the Block Settings sidebar.
4. Add a background color to the Group block under the Styles tab in the Block Settings. This ensures that when a visitor is scrolling, the items in the Header Template part aren’t interfering with the rest of the blocks on the page.
5. Scroll down to the Position settings and choose Sticky.