First, absolutely no apology necessary! It can be confusing the first time, and you can't be expected to know how to do it if you haven't done it before.
Okay, so - here are the steps we recommend, outlined in our Help section:
- Download your chosen addon.
- Extract the files to a folder on your desktop.
- Run Rift.
- Click on the 'addons' button on the character select screen.
- Click on the 'open addon directory' button on the addons list screen. This will open a Windows folder window. The path should be:
< game directory>\interface\addons
- Copy the addon folder from your desktop into the newly opened folder window.
- Click 'refresh' once the new addon is in the addon folder.
- Make sure the addon is ticked and you should be all set.
We always suggest that people extract to their desktop first,
then move the files into the correct game directory. Not all authors pack their files the same way, so it's possible to end up with too many (most common) or too few (less common, but does happen) folders in their addon path.
As an example, lets say that I'm going to install MountMe. Depending on how I extract the zip file, I could end up with a file path of:
<game directory >\interface\addons\MountMe-v1.4.0\MountMe\<files >
or
<game directory >\interface\addons\<files >
both of which are incorrect and therefore won't work properly. The file path you need would be:
<game directory >\interface\addons\MountMe\<files >
See the difference between the three of them?
Try that and see how it goes. If it still isn't working for you, or if I didn't explain that in a way that makes sense to you (different people learn in different ways), let me know and I'll try again.