WordPress is one of the most popular Content Management Systems (CMS) in the world, with over 2.5 million websites running on it and 500 new sites being created every day. Despite this, many WordPress sites look unique and different from one another, thanks to the thousands of themes and plugins available to users. If you want to learn how to achieve the same look and functionality as your favorite WordPress sites, you need to know which themes and plugins they are using. In this article, we will recommend three tools that can help you discover this information.
1. Web-Based Detector
One of the easiest ways to find out which theme and plugins a website is using is to use a web-based detection tool. There are many free tools available that require you to enter the website URL, and they will provide you with all the information you need. SoftwareFindr is an excellent tool that provides key information about the WordPress theme a site is using, including the version number, description, author, and licensing terms. ScanWP is another simple-to-use tool for WordPress theme and plugin detection that can help you determine whether the website you’re looking at was built in WordPress.
2. Detection App
If you want to investigate WordPress sites quickly, you can install a detection app that integrates with your browser. ScanWP offers a browser extension app that is free and easy to install in Chrome. Once installed, you’ll see a new icon at the top right corner of your browser window that changes depending on the CMS of the website you’re on. Click on the icon, and you’ll see the same information as before.
3. Browser Inspection Tool
If you want to go deeper and explore a site’s actual code for further clues, you can use Chrome’s browser inspection tool. Right-click anywhere on a website and select the Inspect option to open a panel in your browser that displays the website’s code. Search within the code for “style.css” to find the name of the theme the site is using. If you’re also curious about plugins, you’ll need to do a bit more technical work, but it’s possible to determine what plugins a website has installed using the browser inspection tool.
Conclusion
Learning what themes and plugins your favorite WordPress sites are using is a great way to jumpstart the process of building your own WordPress website. There are many ways to find out exactly what tools a WordPress website has installed, so you can learn from its developers’ decisions. Try using one of our mentioned three methods to inspect your favorite sites and start building your own unique WordPress website today.
