Adding Custom Functions to your WordPress Website
We occasionally ask our users to add custom code to their WordPress website to add simple features to GiveWP. We do this because 80% of GiveWP users don’t need that feature so we don’t want to add it to the core plugin. But where and how exactly are you supposed to add this custom code to your website? This article gives you an overview of why and how to do this right.
Dispelling the Myths of Custom Code in WordPress
Experienced developers know the best way to extend the functionality of a plugin is by adding their own code into what’s often called a “Functionality Plugin“. You might think that you can simply go into the plugin files and change them there. While it is true that you CAN do that, it’s not “best practice” because the next time your plugin is updated you will lose that custom code.
Another thing you’ll often hear is that you should just put this code into your theme’s `functions.php` file. Again, while this will work, it’s not considered “best practice” because your site most likely will update it’s theme in the near future and again you’ll lose that added functionality to the plugin once your theme changes.
So, the GiveWP Support team gave you some custom code to use on your website, or you pulled it from our documentation. But you CAN’T change the plugin, you can’t add it to your theme’s `functions.php` file, and you don’t know how to create a Functionality Plugin. What are you supposed to do?
It is not “Best Practice” to put custom plugin code in your theme’s functions.php file.