Download Plugins and Themes From Dashboard
One of the biggest advantages of using a WordPress blog is being able to download plugins and themes directly from your dashboard, without having to go through the trouble of downloading them through your web host. You can do this by setting up a Dashboard folder on your website, which contains all your user settings and information such as your theme options and login name. You then set up a publish option in your sidebar that will allow any user who has access to the dashboard to download these plugins and themes directly from your dashboard without using FTP.
Some popular WordPress themes, such as Thesis, TheLaserVault or TheBigiaries are easy to download and install directly from your WordPress website without using FTP. Just click your theme options in your theme options section, click download now and follow the on-screen instructions. To make your theme look even better you may want to download and install some of the themes options available in the Bigician theme library. These include Thesis Boilerplate, TheLaserVault and TheBigiaries Classic. If you have never used WordPress before it is recommended that you read through some of the documentation provided with your theme. This should help you get started quickly, especially if you are new to using WordPress.
When you have installed your chosen WordPress theme and saved it to your Dashboard folder, you can then use the Download Plugins and Themes option from your Dashboard to upload these WordPress themes and plugins to your WordPress website. Just click on the download now button and fill in the location path of the plugin or theme you want to copy and paste into your WordPress website. Save the plugin or theme again to your desired location and then activate it. Now when you visit your WordPress site you will see the new settings, options or theme immediately. Installing themes and plugins this way is a quick and easy way of getting the latest WordPress versions.