How to Clone a WordPress Plugin?

You may have heard of the term ‘WordPress plugin’ and thought that it was some kind of a scam or a hack. Well, you would be wrong, because plugins are absolutely essential to the operation of a WordPress website. Without them, you’ll have a completely unworkable platform that doesn’t even come close to comparing to the features that you’ll find with a properly configured WordPress environment.

The Advantages Of Using WordPress Plugins

WordPress plugins can do a lot of things for your website, from giving it an additional functionality that you didn’t even think of to making it much more user-friendly. Some of the more popular plugins are:

• Premium Memberships
• Visitors Counter
• Sitemap Generator
• Contact Form 7
• Sharebar (networked bars)
• Simple Product
• Product Review
• Shopify Apps
• Shopify Analytics
• WooCommerce
• Gravity Forms

These are just some of the most popular ones. To learn more, visit the WordPress plugin repository at plugins.wordpress.com.

The Disadvantages Of Using WordPress Plugins

There are a few disadvantages to using WordPress plugins. First, they often come with additional software that you need to install in order to utilize them. This means that you’ll need to have a certain amount of technical knowledge in order to manage the plugins’ settings as well as integrate them into your website. Second, some plugins require frequent updates, which can be a pain when you’re already depending on them to make your site work. Third, some plugins require a large amount of resources in order to work, which means that your website may be slower than it normally is. Finally, some plugins don’t offer the level of functionality that you want, which is why you decided to install them in the first place.

On the bright side, WordPress plugins can be very easy to remove if you decide that they’re not necessary. This means that you’ll save a lot of time and effort by not having them on your site. Keep in mind though that if you do decide to remove them, you’ll need to find a new way of handling the same functionality, which may require some research.

Cloning A WordPress Plugin

For the sake of this tutorial, we’ll be assuming that you already have a working WordPress website that you’re happy with and that you’ve decided to enhance its functionality with some cool plugins. If you want to learn more, click here to visit the WordPress plugin repository at plugins.wordpress.com. Now that you have the necessary tools, let’s get started cloning a WordPress plugin.

The first step is to log in to your WordPress admin panel and navigate to the plugins page. You’ll see a list of all the plugins that are currently installed on your site. To start cloning a plugin, click on the gear icon next to the one that you want to clone (for example, Contact Form 7), and then click on clone this plugin. You’ll be directed to a new page where you can enter a name for the new plugin and choose a license. You can also uncheck the box in the plugin’s settings if you don’t want to allow others to contribute to the development of your new plugin. Finally, you can leave the rest of the settings as they are and click on the red button to clone the plugin. Back in your WordPress administration area, you’ve successfully cloned a WordPress plugin!

Making Changes To A Cloned Plugin

Once you’ve cloned a plugin, you can make changes to it just like you would a normal one. However, keep in mind that if you do decide to modify a cloned plugin, you’ll need to do it from the original source. This can be a bit tricky, especially if you’re not experienced with code. Luckily, there is a way to automate this process and make your life much easier. To do this, log in to your WordPress admin panel and click on the wp-plugins menu item. From here, you can see all of the plugins that you have installed on your site. Click on the gear icon next to any of them and select settings from the drop-down menu. Now, you can define which area of the plugin you want to edit (e.g., the front-end or the back-end), and then make your changes. When you’ve finished making your edits, click on the Update button at the top of the page to save your changes.

Adding New Features To A Cloned Plugin

Once you’ve successfully cloned a plugin and made some minor modifications to it, you can start experimenting with new features and adding them to your plugin. To do this, log in to your WordPress administration panel and click on the wp-plugins menu item. From here, you can see all of the plugins that you have installed on your site. Click on the gear icon next to any of them and select settings from the drop-down menu. Now, you can define the areas of the plugin that you want to experiment with (e.g., the admin area and the public facing part of the website). Remember not to change any HTML or PHP code in your original plugin, as this will overwrite your changes when you update the code. Once you’re done defining which parts of your plugin you want to experiment with, click on Update to save your new settings.

As a general rule, it’s a good idea to save all of your cloned plugins in a safe place so that you can easily find them when you need them. This will also make it much easier to revert your changes if something goes wrong. To do this, click on the Settings tab in the WordPress administration panel, click on the Clones sub-menu and then click on the name of the plugin that you want to restore. You’ll be brought to a screen where you can see all of the changes that you’ve made to the plugin. Simply click on the Restore button at the top to save all of your changes.

Removing Features From A Cloned Plugin

If you’ve cloned a plugin and made some changes to it, you can remove those changes by clicking on the Edit button next to the plugin in the WordPress administration panel and then selecting the Public area from the drop-down menu. When you’ve finished making your edits, click on the Update button (at the top of the page) to save your changes.

As with many other things, WordPress makes removing features from cloned plugins very easy. Simply navigate to the plugin’s settings in the WordPress administration area, click on the Public tab, and then remove the features that you don’t want. Keep in mind that if you’re planning on removing a feature that’s crucial to the operation of your website, you’ll have to replace it with HTML or PHP code that calls for the use of the original plugin. Simply save your changes and then click on the Update button at the top of the page to install your new version of the plugin.

Hopefully, this tutorial was helpful in giving you a better understanding of what WordPress plugins are and how they work. If you’ve ever used a WordPress plugin and have a question regarding the basics of how they work, feel free to leave us a note in the comments section below! We hope to see you back soon to continue learning more about WordPress plugins and their various features.