I'm not sure if everyone out there surfing the interwebs has noticed, but we've been quietly releasing a lot of really, really cool themes recently. As a relatively non-technical person, the thought of downloading a .war file and deploying it to the right directory, was somewhat daunting. At one point I remember thinking, "Wouldn't it be nice if there was a quick, painless, and integrated way to install new themes and plugins?"

Well. There is.

Using the Plugin Installer is both easy and straightforward:

1. Be sure to add the portlet to your page.

2. Find a slick theme or plugin you would like to install.

3. Click Install.

If you'd like to check out whats going on under the hood, you can look at your app server log and watch as it installs your new plugin/theme for you.

4. If you check the Manage Pages-Look and Feel tab...

There you go! All without having to leave the comfort and [relative] security of your browser. In addition to this, Liferay will keep your plugin's up to date and monitor the repository for new versions that are released.

Keeping your plugins up to date is also just as easy as installing them!

And if you check, your app server will be doing all the heavy lifting for you.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour of the Plugin Installer. Maybe I'll take a blogging break now.

-jr out