[Jenny]

I have installed the free Connections to our website and am wondering if I need to purchase in order to set up our staff directory in a decent format. We’re a school and I’m hoping to have a list of all staff based on groups- Administration, Teachers, and Staff (alphabetically) with just name and title with the name acting as link to their pages with more info. Currently I have a long obnoxious list of everyone (not by groups). How can I make the directory look better? I should add that I’m not super code savvy so please be explicit in your instructions! Thanks for any help!!

[Steven Zahm]

@ Jenny

re: if I need to purchase in order to set up our staff directory in a decent format.

This is subjective. Many thousands of users use the Default template as is and meets their needs well. So fo them, there’s nothing to purchase.

re: We’re a school and I’m hoping to have a list of all staff based on groups- Administration, Teachers, and Staff (alphabetically) with just name and title with the name acting as link to their pages with more info.

Display wise, I have nothing available that matches exactly what you describe. The closest are the Excerpt Plus and Slim Plus templates. I do offer custom developed solutions so one of these could be tweaked to meet you exact design requirements. Just let me know if that is an avenue you wish to pursue.

re: Currently I have a long obnoxious list of everyone (not by groups).

Connections can be setup to group entries but this does require a more complex setup that might be too difficult. What I suggest instead is to categorize the entries in your directory according to group. The category filter in the above mentioned templates will allow your users to filter the list based on the selected category group. Another method would be to put each group on their own page using the category shortcode option to define which group should be displayed on a page. I really suggest the former over the latter because it is far easier to setup and maintain.

re: Thanks for any help!!

I do hope my answers help. Let me know if you have any further questions.

[Jenny]

Ok – is there a way I present the current directory without the staff photo and the boxes appearing around each name? So, in other words, with just the staff name and position?
http://www.mvsd11.org/staff/

[Steven Zahm]

@ Jenny

First, the theme is applying additional styles to the template which needs to be corrected. Add the following to the theme’s custom CSS area:

#cn-list div.vcard {
    display: block;
    margin: 0;
    border: 0;
    padding: 0;
}

You should see that this changes the appearance. If it does not, try force refreshing your browser so the browser will use the newly updated CSS from the theme instead of the browser locally cached version.

To turn off the image:

• Navigate to the Connections : Settings admin page and click the Customize button for the Default Entry Card template.
• The page will reload with the Customizer of the left and a preview on the left.
• Click the back arrow in the upper left of the Customizer.
• Click the Image panel.
• Change the image Type to None.
• Click the Save and Publish button at the top of the Customizer.

If you also which to turn the image off on the entry detail/profile page, while still in the Customizer:

• Click an entry name in the preview. Any entry name, it does not matter.
• The preview will reload displaying the entry detail/profile page.
• Change the image Type to None.
• Click the Save and Publish button at the top of the Customizer.

You can now exist the Customizer.

The reason to do this twice is because the results list view and the entry detail/profile view can be configured separately providing you with a lot of flexibility.

Hope this helps!

[Jenny]

That helps a ton – thank you!!

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