Tag: Simple Staff List Template

No doubt you’ve already heard that people generally will buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

If you are searching for cost-effective ideas to sell more products or services online or get people to stay longer on your site, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

If you use WordPress, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to add a directory plugin that lets you display a directory listing with information about your key people, your team, or your staff members.

In this tutorial, we show you how to add a simple faculty directory to your site.

Tutorial: How To Add An Employee List Directory

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

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you build a simple staff directory list for.

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

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

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, a new entry will be added to your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

How To Configure The Plugin

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

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings up the Groups settings …

(Groups screen)

Note: Configuring directory groups works just like categories in WordPress …

(Groups work just like categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version 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 to set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Enter the group description
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to create a new directory group …

(Groups settings screen)

If you are a business that employs many people, having the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, project teams, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

To change Groups for specific entries, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The category will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click Update Group when done …

Add as many group names as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested groups to your directory)

After you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to begin adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This opens up the Add New Staff Member settings area …

(Add New Staff Member section)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The employee’s name
• Slug: Here you can change the slug associated with each staff member if required (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: Your employee’s role
• Email: Add the staff member’s email here
• Phone Number: Enter the employee’s phone number into this field
• Facebook URL: Type in your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Enter the person’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your employees here. Since this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign your employee 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)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add Staff Member fields)

After you have entered your staff member’s details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …

(Groups section)

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

(Groups - + Add New Group feature)

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

A new directory category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to an employee’s details. To edit a group item, 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 or faculty member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• An Overview Of The WordPress Control Panel

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

(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)

If you need help setting up WordPress permalinks, go here:

• Changing Your WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to add more members to your staff directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering employee details into your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members details)

If you need to modify individual details, simply hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a member from your staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Editing Staff Members details)

If you have many entries, your table can grow quite large.

Use the Search Staff Members search box to locate a member if required …

(Search Staff Members search box)

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

(Screen Options tab)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list items)

Once you are done adding staff details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to create the layout and style of your employee directory listings 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 – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, here is the Default Staff Loop Template …

(Default Template)

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

(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Use template tags to customize your listings page)

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

(Directory listings with social media URLs added)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations you can use with this plugin.

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

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

Options Menu

In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – 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

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

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List plugin website.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use. Here are other free plugins you can use:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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)

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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

The plugin also lets you use custom fields …

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

More info:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

This plugin provides 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.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)

The Company Directory plugin lets you add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like position title, email address, phone number, pic and bio, allowing visitors to get to know 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 website)

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

More info:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

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

With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.

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

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)

Go here to learn more:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Staffer uses custom post types for staff/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 immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.

Go here to learn more:

• 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 List
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Simple Staff List Template WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site without using code, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

Models used to portray fictitious staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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