Tag: Simple Staff List Template

You have no doubt heard that people often tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.

If you are searching for ways to grow your business online or get people to stay longer on your site, then make it easier for your visitors to get to know your organization better.

Adding a directory to your site can lead to increased trust, boost your online credibility and get more prospects considering using your services.

This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-update employee directory to your website.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee Directory In WordPress

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you build a basic staff directory for.

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

Log into your dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new menu entry will appear in the WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

The Staff Members menu is where you will manage and configure all of the settings for your plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.

Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could just start adding new entries after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

This loads the Groups screen …

(Groups section)

Note: Configuring groups is just like setting up categories in WordPress …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by typing in 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 drop-down menu if you plan to set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Type in the group description in this field (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up a new category …

(Groups settings screen)

If you work with a medium to large organization, the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, project teams, departments, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

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

Your selected category details will display in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update when done …

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

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 categories as you like …

(Nested groups)

Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to begin adding your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

From your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member area …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your staff member’s name
• Slug: Modify your employees’ permalink URL (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: The staff member’s position
• Email: Type the person’s email address
• Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type the person’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Enter the person’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 staff or team member here. As this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign the individual to a group (see above to learn how to set up groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add Staff Member fields)

Once you have entered details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups box in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you did not set up categories before adding 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 drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …

A new category will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or edited. To edit an 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 typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

If you need help using the WP admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:

• The WP Administration Section – A Tutorial

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

(Page error – Check your permalinks)

We have written a detailed tutorial on using permalinks here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Continue adding new entries to your staff directory directory as shown above until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you have finished adding employee details into your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all the directory entries and any details you have added with each entry …

(Staff Members details list)

If you need to edit an individual’s details, just hover your mouse over their listing, and a menu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members details)

If you have many employees, your list can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find listing items …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options tab)

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

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which your employee listings appear on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order in the WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

After adding your employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which your staff members appear on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the item to its desired location …

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list)

After adding your employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List also lets you edit the layout and style of your directory entries 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 the main admin menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

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

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The The code shown above will display your listing as shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your listings page)

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

(Employee profiles with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess with CSS styles and template tags or are unsure of 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 listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Usage Shortcode section)

This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations you can use with this plugin.

A useful variation you can select, for example, to display a list of employees belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales reps”])

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

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options on your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to the WordPress admin menu and selecting Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need plugin support, go to the plugin site and request help from the plugin author.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your faculty. For example, here are some other plugins you can use:

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 the plugin:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

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

You can also insert custom fields …

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

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin 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.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

This plugin lets you easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid 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 can click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each employee in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

Learn more here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just an individual member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

Employee Spotlight installs with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.

Detailed information about  each team member 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:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Plugin)

This plugin uses custom post types for staff management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage a staff directory on your site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

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

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin

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
• Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an easy-to-manage simple staff directory in in WordPress.

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

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