Can someone please provide an explanation on what the difference is between a 'plugin' and an 'application' on ipb4?

 

So based on this, for a project such as adding another field to an existing form, a plugin would take this job, because its just extending existing functionality? Because it also seems like its adding new functionality if you are adding fields that werent previously there.

This one should basically help you out:

Yes, what you try to do is a plugin.

The way I generally would view it is "am I adjusting something that is already there, or building something entirely new?". A very simplified way of looking at it in most cases is whether or not you want to add a whole new area of the site. Blogs, Gallery, Downloads, Forums are applications. If you want to edit one of these areas, you want to use a plugin in most cases.

There are rare exceptions, such as when you want to leverage the extensions capability in the Suite, where an application may still be more appropriate when editing an existing area.