Using Craft CMS plugins

# Install Craft plugins from the control panel

This method let's you conveniently discover, install and also "activate" (pay for) the plugins right in place.

1. Visit the control panel of your local Craft installation
2. Visit the plugin store
3. Search, install and activate plugins

Plugins installed via the plugin store are "pinned" with composer.json and must also be updated through the same mechanisms. Please also see our updating instructions.

# Install Craft plugins via command line

This is a more advanced method to install plugins directly from the command line:

# 1. Add the plugin to Composer:
$ composer require {vendor/package-name}

# 2. Install the plugin via Craft CLI
$ ./craft plugin/install {plugin-handle}
shell

Plugins installed that way can be updated with composer update later on. Please also see our updating instructions.

# Using image tuning plugins

Image uploads to Craft are usually getting processed by ImageMagick. Image transformations happen when original images are sized down into several delivery formats. That happens during upload for display in the Craft Control Panel but also in your templates when you want to show those images to the users. Nowadays with image media queries like srcset one needs not only two sizes (thumbnail and large) but all kind of different sizes for different device resolutions. Please keep in mind that image transforms are "expensive" in terms of CPU utilization. Best don't overdo it. Use only as much as you'll need. Maybe four sizes per image are enough, for the imager plugin that can be four steps. The image format webp is supported with fortrabbit's imageMagick version.

# jpegoptim and company

Some people suggest further optimizing images with jpegoptim or optipng. These tools are not available here on fortrabbit. We advise using dedicated specialized third party image optimization services, like imgix, tinypng, kraken to do the job best.

# Plugins VS performance

In our experience, some plugins are over-engineered, bloated. That can result in considerable performance degradation. Consider using light weight plugins that are easy to combine and manage. Consider not using too many plugins.

# Plugins VS updates

Craft CMS changes. Not plugin developers will follow the Craft CMS update path. It might well be that you can not update your Craft CMS installation because of plugins missing updates. Yet again, consider using only required plugins.