Tag: Simple Staff List Template

No doubt you already know that people will mostly buy from people they know, like and trust.

Are you searching for inexpensive ways to sell more products online and increase user interaction on your site? Then help prospects get to know your business better.

Adding an employee directory to your website is a great way to let visitors learn more about the people working behind the scenes in your business.

In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to add a simple and easy-to-manage simple staff directory in WordPress without coding skills.

Adding A Staff Directory To Your Site

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily display information about your employee on your site.

First, let’s install and activate the plugin.

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

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu entry will show up in your WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the settings for your plugin are configured and managed in this menu.

Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are in your team and how you want to structure your directory, you can begin to add new staff details after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourstaff into.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your directory categories go to your WP dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

The Groups screen …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Configuring directory groups is very similar to creating WordPress categories …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by typing in the following information:

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

(Groups settings area)

If you manage a larger organization, having the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for partners, developers, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

To edit or reassign Groups for an individual item, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update to save your changes …

To edit your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose Quick Edit …

Click Update Group when done …

Add as many categories as you need to until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested categories your staff directory)

Once 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 Menu – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member area …

(Add New Staff Member section)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Add the staff member’s name
• Slug: You can modify the slug for each employee if you want (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Type in a profile description for your employee here. Since this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory fields)

Once you are done inputting details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups feature in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you have not set up groups before adding new staff members, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …

A new category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign a person’s details to the group …

(Groups feature)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing new employee details. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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After typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …

Click View Post …

You can modify the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about using the WordPress admin toolbar , go here:

• How To Navigate Inside Your WordPress Control Area

Note: If errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that your permalinks have been set up correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get a ‘page not found’ error)

We have written a detailed tutorial on using permalinks here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you have finished adding staff or faculty members to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all your directory entries and details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members list)

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

Click on Edit to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete an entry from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Edit Staff Members profile details)

If you have added many entries to this section, your list can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to locate listing items if necessary …

(Search members)

The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …

(Screen Options)

Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when finished to save your settings …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which your staff profiles display on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order in your main admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to its desired position …

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered listings)

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

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which your employees display on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in your WP admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to its desired location …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

Once you have added all of your member details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List lets you create the style and layout of your employee directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, here is the default template used for displaying directory listings …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Your employee entries will now display as shown in the example below …

(Directory listings with social media links added)

Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess around with editing code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

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

In your main menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List shortcodes)

This screen lists all the shortcode variations that you can use with the Simple Staff List plugin.

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

Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

Here you can edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

You can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export menu …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need plugin help or support, visit the plugin support page.

Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only for displaying a directory of your faculty members. Here are some other free plugins you can look at to add a directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

The Modern Team Staff Directory plugin 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)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

You can also use custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: plugin website)

Learn more here:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

This plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.

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

Go here to learn more:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

With Company Directory, you can add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone number, image and bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each staff member in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

For more details go here:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just one single member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

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

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

The Staffer plugin 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 employee directory on your site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)

Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staffer

If the above plugins 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 Plugin
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this tutorial has shown you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of employees to your WordPress site.

Images used to portray sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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