Tag: Simple Staff List Template

Business experts have successfully demonstrated that people will mostly buy from people they know, like and trust.

If you are looking for quicker and easier ways to grow your business online, then help your visitors get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

Adding a ‘Meet Our Team’ directory to your website can lead to greater trust, increase your online credibility and get more prospects to buy from your site.

This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to create an easy-to-maintain directory of staff members in your WordPress site.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff Directory To WordPress

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

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List lets you create a simple staff directory list for.

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

Log into your admin and from the admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new entry will be added to your main WordPress menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

Here is where you will configure and manage all of the options and settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.

Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can begin adding new staff entries at this at this stage, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourstaff members into.

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your categories go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This opens up the Groups settings area …

(Groups screen)

Note: Adding groups is just like setting up categories …

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
2. Slug – Type in the slug of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Enter your group description
5. Click Add New Group when done to create the new group name …

(Groups settings screen)

If you are a medium to large organization, the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for investors, developers, faculties, etc.

Create as many categories and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a hierarchical structure …

(Nested groups)

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

To change or reassign Groups for a specific item, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …

The item open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

To change the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select Quick Edit …

Click on Update Group  when done to save your changes …

Continue adding categories to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

Once you are done setting up your groups, you can begin to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your WP admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member area …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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: The staff member’s name
• Slug: Here you can edit the slug associated with each staff member if you want (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Type your employee’s position
• Email: Type in the person’s email address into this field
• Phone Number: The staff member’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: Enter the staff member’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 in a profile description for your employee here. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign an employee or team member to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add Staff Member settings)

After you have finished inputting each of you staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups box in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you did not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can add a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

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

The new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign the person’s listing to the group …

(New group added)

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

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

Click View Post …

You can edit your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using the admin toolbar here:

• How To Navigate Inside Your WordPress Control Area

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

(Page error? Check your permalinks)

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

• Setting Up Your WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to continue adding more members to your employee directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done entering staff details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all your directory items and their details …

(Staff Members details)

If you need to make changes to individual details, hover your mouse over their listing, and a menu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members profile details)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can get quite long.

Use the Search Staff Members search box to locate listing items …

(Search Staff Members search field)

You can specify which fields can display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …

(Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to update your settings …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that your staff profiles display on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to the new position …

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list)

Once you have added employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order that entries display on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order on the main menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list items)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Templates page)

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

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

(Default Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Template Listing)

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

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Your staff details will now display with Facebook and Twitter links as shown in the example below …

(Directory listings with social media URLs added)

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

Usage Menu

In addition to being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen displays all different shortcode variations that you can use.

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

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options in the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – Options screen)

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

Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export menu …

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need specific help with this plugin, go to the Simple Staff List site and contact the plugin developer.

Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use. For example, here are some other free WordPress plugins you can use to create a directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

This 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)

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily create a directory of staff/faculty/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.

You can also set up custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

Faculty And Staff Directory provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.

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

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

With Company Directory, you can easily add your employees, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, as well as fields like job title, email address, phone number, photo and staff bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.

Visitors will be able to 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 source: plugin website)

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

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

This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

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: Employee Spotlight website)

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer 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 Plugin
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this tutorial has helped you learn how to create an easy-to-update employee directory in WordPress.

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

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