Tag: Simple Staff List Plugin

Business experts often raise the point that people will mostly buy from those they know, like and trust.

Are you looking for quicker and simpler ideas to grow your business online? Then help visitors get to know you and your business better.

If you run a WordPress-driven website, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to add a WordPress directory plugin that will let you add information about your key people, your business team, or your employees.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to add an updatable simple employee directory to WordPress without coding skills.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Add A Staff List Directory To WordPress

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List lets you staff members (you could also use it to display faculty, etc.).

First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into the admin and from the admin menu section, choose Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, you will notice that new menu entry will appear on the WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in this menu.

Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could just begin to add new entries after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourstaff members into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by setting up your groups. In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups settings opens up …

(Groups screen)

Note: Configuring directory groups works in the same way as adding WordPress categories …

(Groups work like categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group category name
2. Slug – Type in the slug of your category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this section if you plan to set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter your category description
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to create your new group …

(Groups settings)

If you manage a medium to large organization, the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, project teams, departments, etc.

Create as many groups and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a directory hierarchy …

(Nested groups)

Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating new items …

To change or reassign Groups for an entry, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

The selected category details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button when done …

To edit the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …

Click Update Group after making changes …

Continue adding groups in this section until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested groups)

After you have finished setting up your groups, you can start to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

This screen provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member details and includes the following fields:

Name Section (1)

• Name: Add your staff member’s name
• Permalink: Modify your staff members’ slug (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: The staff member’s role
• Email: The employee’s email
• Phone Number: Type in the employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type your employee’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type the employee’s Twitter username into this field (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your employee here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign the person to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …

(Add Staff Member fields)

After you have finished entering details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups box located in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add new staff members, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field for entering a group name will appear, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …

The new category will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign a person’s entry to the group …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or edited. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).

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After filling in the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …

Click View Post …

To update the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your WP admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar, see this tutorial:

• The WP Dashboard – An Overview

Note: If you get ’not found’ page errors like the one shown below, check that your site’s permalinks have been set up correctly …

(Not found error? Check your permalinks)

If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to add new details to your employee directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff members to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all your staff members and their details …

(Staff Members details table)

If you need to edit an individual’s entry, hover your mouse over their list name, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit if you need to modify their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from the employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Edit Staff Members profile info)

If you have many entries, your table can become unwieldy.

Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate items if necessary …

(Search members)

You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to save your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that listings appear on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its desired location …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list items)

Once you are done adding members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site visitors.

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that entries appear on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order on the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to its new location …

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list items)

Once you are done adding all of your member details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin lets you edit the layout and style of your staff list listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

To customize the style and layout of your staff directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

To customize your directory, insert any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.

For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Template …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

The The code shown above displays your directory listing as shown below …

(Default Template Listing)

Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown in the example below …

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your staff list should now look like …

(Directory with social media links)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

As well as allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your main admin menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)

This screen lists all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.

For example, a useful shortcode variation you can decide to use to display a list of staff members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”technical engineers”])

You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).

Options Menu

In the dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Options screen)

Here you can change some of the labels used in the plugin

You can also export your staff members details by going to your menu and clicking Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need plugin help or support, go to the plugin support page.

Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to display a listing of your faculty members in WordPress. For example, here are other free plugins you can look at for creating a staff directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

Modern Team Staff Directory helps you collect your team information and showcase it anywhere on your site in beautiful grids, columns and tables. This premium plugin features over a dozen presets and provides editors that make it easy to edit and update your directory.

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Responsive Templates)

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily create a directory of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.

You can also set up custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.

The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

This plugin lets you add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone number, photo and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors will be able to click through from your list, grid, and table views to learn more about each employee in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

Learn more here:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just one single member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

Detailed information about  each staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

Staffer uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an online staff directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)

Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.

More info:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

If the directory plugins listed above aren’t what you’re looking for, search the WordPress plugin directory or go online and search for:

• Add Staff Directory To WordPress
• WordPress Staff Directory Plugin
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an easy-to-maintain simple team members directory in your site using a free plugin.

Images used to display fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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