Last updated April 25, 2019
Sarah Gooding
Sarah Gooding

Make WordPress Users Happy With Simple Documentation in the Dashboard

Try to remember back to the first time you used WordPress. Beginners look at all of these menu items and can become easily overwhelmed. Many newbies just give up, despite having the desire to create and publish content. If you’re a developer who has set up many WordPress sites for others, only to find that they never bother to manage it or publish any content, then you may want to look at some new ways to help your client feel at home in the dashboard.

An incomplete understanding of how to use WordPress can lead to frustration, but here’s how you can help.

Sample documentation widget

Simple Documentation is a new plugin that makes it easy for you to add a list of reference material for clients to access in the dashboard.

You may be at a stage in your WordPress expertise where you completely ignore dashboard widgets, but for many users, it’s the first thing they see and the first place they look for answers.

This new plugin offers the ability for you to easily post four different types of content within a handy dashboard widget:

  • “Link” – a simple link with a custom title and url which will open in a new tab
  • “Video” – Allows you to put an embed code from websites like Youtube, Vimeo, ScreenR (all the ones which offer you iframe based code)
  • “Quick Note” – This a short text area where you can write a short tip (for longer content use Links)
  • “File” – Upload a file to WordPress and display the link. (The file link can be entered manually if you upload content by FTP).

The widget can be shown based on the user role set by the administrator when creating the documentation.

Simple Documenation is easy and convenient for you to use as a developer. Just install the plugin and add a few helpful tips, links and videos to get your client on the right track for his particular needs. If you built an e-commerce site, your client may need help remembering how to create new products. If your client is a blogger, you can put in information about featured image, SEO, and other hints for creating top quality content. These helpful hints may even save you quite a bit of time answering questions about common actions in the dashboard. Download Simple Documentation for free from the WordPress plugin repository.