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Detailed Installation Guide for Directory - not working

I want to keep my site as it is, but add the Directory to a specific page. I don't know how to do this and when I click on the Detailed Installation Guide nothing happens.

This is the first time I've had to load anything via a FTP application and am so pleased with how smoothly it went!

Can't wait to get Directory up and running. Your help for a self-taught newbie would be appreciated. Thank you.

  • Tom Eagles
    • Syntax Hero

    @Keran

    If you take a look at the plugins page and click the usage tab and scroll down you will see a series of shortcodes. What you can do is add the shortcodes to the page you want to and this will allow you to add the features to the pages you want to. When you say you click on the detailed instruction guide and nothing happens would you please be so kind to post a screenshot of what you mean.

    Kindest regards

    tom

  • NewbieKB
    • WPMU DEV Initiate

    Hello Tom,

    Thanks for your feedback. I've got some of the setup resolved but will spend more time tomorrow. Attached are two screen shots - one where the hyperlink doesn't go through to the detailed instructions guide, and the other where there's a spelling error on the preformatted listing - it reads 'Enter the subject of your inquire here' should be 'enquiry'. Can this be changed?

    Thank you,
    Keran

  • Tom Eagles
    • Syntax Hero

    Hi @Keran

    sorry for the delay spent yesterday with sick child and ended up in the hospital till quite late,

    I have alerted the dev to the typo so i can get fixed in the next update, unfortunately the second screenshot didn't post would you please try again/

    Cheers

  • NewbieKB
    • WPMU DEV Initiate

    Hello Tom, hope all is okay now :slight_smile:

    Attached is the screen grab with the hyperlink that doesn't work - it was taken from: https://premium.wpmudev.org/project/wordpress-directory/#usage

    ...where I also found other screen grab! 30 minutes ???

    If you're talking to the developer, can you also check:

    1. How many characters are used before the More Info as I've done about 5 dummy listings and they're all different.
    2. Can the words 'Listing Category' be removed as it's not necessary - the category text itself is sufficient (see attached).
    3. What resolution image can be uploaded by a user?

    There are no instructions that I can find, that can be given to potential customers to help them set up their directory listing. If they're paying for this service, then it makes sense to make it as easy as possible for them.

    Can you point me to any other sites where Directory is being used successfully please?

    Thank you Tom.

  • Arnold
    • El Macho WP

    1. It's not characters it's words. 55 Words which is the standard Wordpress excerpt. If you don't explicitly type in an Excerpt it creates one from the first 55 words of the content. If you type in an Excerpt this will be displayed instead. You can also use a Wrdpress Quicktag to mark where you want it to break the excerpt. The quick tag is the string.

    <!--more-->

    Again this is all standard Wordpress. See:

    http://codex.wordpress.org/Customizing_the_Read_More

    2. All of the custom post type labels are edited in CustomPress. For Directory go to
    CustomPress > Content Type > Post Types > directory_listing. The you can edit the "Labels" section to whatever you want

    3. Any resolution can be uploaded but WordPress will resize it to usefull sizes so you don't always use a arge file if it's huge. Standard Wordpress again. The sizes created are set in Admin > Settings > Media.

  • NewbieKB
    • WPMU DEV Initiate

    I appreciate the information.

    But just pretend I'm a customer visiting a Gardening site that has a Directory. And I want to add my 'Garden Club' to that Directory and pay for my 'Garden Club' to be listed.

    Where are the instructions for me to know in simple steps and language what to do. I am unlikely to about WordPress and Setting and Media or Wrdpress Quicktag - I just manage a Garden Club and want more members to come along and swap plants.

    So twofold help is needed here - one for me as a website owner with limited techie abilities - the other help is for my customer.

    Can someone put themselves in our shoes and talk in plain English please?

    For a plugin that is being marketed as something that can be up and running in 30 minutes, this is false advertising.

  • Arnold
    • El Macho WP

    Directory is a plugin, which means it's an Add On for Wordpress. It extends Wordpress. So there has to be an assumption that you've already done the learning curve for WordPress. All your questions have been about WordPress functions except for the changing some text which qualifies as changing it's normal operation.

    It's like putting new hubs on your car and then asking questions about how to put it in gear.

    I'll be glad to help you. Here's a couple of things that may help. The usage page URL above had an extra "/" on the end which kept it from working. Try.

    https://premium.wpmudev.org/project/wordpress-directory/#usage

    Second here's an example setup. This covers the CustomPress portion which is part of Directory. Directory has already created the Custom types necessary so this can show you how the change the Custompress specific parts such as changing labels.

    https://premium.wpmudev.org/project/custompress/#usage

    and Here's a demo site of a gardening type project made with CustomPress.

    http://custompress.co/

  • Jason
    • The Incredible Code Injector

    It's like putting new hubs on your car and then asking questions about how to put it in gear.

    @Arnold I'm sorry but that's a terrible analogy. She got the Directory Plugin on her site, and the visitor facing forms suck.

    Monkey1: Here you go, here's some shiny new hubs!

    Monkey2: Yeah, they're shiny but also they're really ugly...

    Monkey1: Let's not get off topic now, they're VERY shiny...

    I agree with @Keran there is in NO WAY we should "Expect" a potential customer to our website should just be able to know to add a more tag to a description, or about the inner workings of wordpress.

    If you look at the plugin Gravity Forms it's a plugin on top of wordpress and it's doing an amazing job at letting site owners build dynamic forms (A form is what the customer fills out their WPMU Directory listing with) and people can even pay to submit the forms in Gravity Forms, just like Directory....

    I would dare say that with a tiny bit of tweaking it could serve as a very good directory. But her problems all seem to stem from overzealous marketing and lack of a clear direction of the plugin.

    Too specialized and no one wants it except for a few, too broad and it's useless to everyone. I understand the conundrum for WPMUDev but guys, the screenshots don't even look close to the current product anymore. I can't even find the URL field anymore that's clearly depicted in the screenshots.

    It's not that I want you guys to work harder, just smarter! When planning a plugin like this, stop working on fitting a theme to it. Make that a rule across ALL your plugins. Set a clearly defined goal, and work to avoid feature creep. That's not easy, but yields better results.

    Also STOP blaming the customers lack of understanding. It's annoying and counter-productive. If the customer doesn't understand something, you guys should treat it like a failure of documentation of your parts, and part of the solution of answering the question should be including that in a FAQ or as an aside in the instructions like in the for dummies books.

    Ex: **Watch out for leaving the price field blank! Doing so can cause a blue screen of death for your visitors using Internet Exploader**

    I'm done. I'll be watching to see if you guys pick up on this advice. I tried really hard to be helpful to WPMUDev guys here. I see this lady is quite frustrated and needs help!

    *Update*
    Doing a little digging, I oddly found a gravity forms directory plugin.
    http://wordpress.org/plugins/gravity-forms-addons/

    It makes it even easier to exactly build any kind of directory with drag and drop.

    Granted, Gravity forms costs an arm and a leg. :disappointed:

  • NewbieKB
    • WPMU DEV Initiate

    Okay, where to start.

    First, thank you so much @Jason for your input. I really did laugh out loud at the Monkey1 & Monkey2 – you were spot on. And as for being made to felt wrong as a customer, thank you too for illuminating my experience.

    I've now paid a developer to get it set up for me as per the demo version.

    Over to WPMU DEV Staff - I’ve persevered with this plugin because I do believe that it has great possibilities - but I’m still frustrated by the lack of information and presentation.

    Can you answer these queries for me:

    Directory - Listings

    • It isn’t obvious for directory viewers to know how to get back to the Index (or home page). I found out by a complete fluke that if you click on the word Directory (or whatever you label it the top left), it goes to the index. Why not have a link to the left of PROFILE saying “Go to Index”.

    • Except: The text isn't wrapping around properly so the excerpt looks sloppy.

    • On every page is a promotion for WPMU DV with a link – I am not an affiliate - can this be removed? I am not paid to promote this site or even asked if want to.

    • I see there’s more work to be done in setting up shortcodes for User Defined Custom Fields – but it’s a little lazy that WPMU Dev hasn't even bothering with basic fields such as Business Name, Website, Phone number, Address to give customer an idea of what to include so there’s a standard approach to listings.

    • How much text can be entered? An endless amount presumably unless a limit is put on the acceptable text length as part of your own site style guide?

    • How do I know when a new listing has been added, and it is pending approval?

    • Can customers tick as many category boxes as they want for the same price? Surely it should be restricted to one or two rather than filling every category? Dunno.

    • It seems that a listing won't show unless it's within a sub-category of a category. ie. Garden Club or Society > Garden Club. (I know someone else had this issue too).

    • And I've just created a couple of listings with NO PAYMENT needed even though I can click on the SignUp button and go through the payment process. But if I just click Listings, I don’t need to pay. Could be because I’m an administrator and I get a different set up? How do I know the same won't happen for my customers?

    Directory - Payment System

    • Settings: Credits are indicated but not explained how free credits for signup works. There’s a presumption here that we’re expected to know.

    • Signup (step 1 of 3) - Terms & Conditions: if you include a word with an apostrophe, it gets changed to \’ again this looks shoddy and unprofessional and reflects poorly on my site.

    • Signup (step 2 of 3) – Choose Payment Method – Only PayPal (in tiny writing and with a tiny icon) is shown. It doesn’t indicate that PayPal is the processor for Credit Card payments, or which credit cards are accepted. Can this wording be changed to help customers know they can pay by credit card rather than not proceed.

    • Signup (step 3 of 3) - @Arnold claimed that the information is populated by PayPal – but there’s a glitch as each time I’ve tried a Sandbox test, only my email and name is used – not my address. Can this be fixed or removed?

    • Signup (step 3 of 3) - Total amount on Step 3 does not show a $ symbol even though I’ve set the currency. It doesn’t look very professional. Can a currency symbol be included or at least the currency that was indicated on Signup Step 1 repeated?

    • Signup (step 3 of 3) – I tried to complete my purchase (via Sandbox which put the amount as 0.00) but my paypal details were not accepted (they were correct as I double checked). So then I tried to pay by credit card and it indicated that the link to paypal was invalid. Please DON'T tell me this is PayPal's fault.

    • At what point are the reoccurring payments confirmed (as set up in the Settings tab) within PayPal? In the #Usage instructions it states “You can receive Recurring Daily/Weekly /Monthly/Yearly Payments for your service, or a one time up-front payment. The options are pretty straight forward.” But also limited? It appears that you can ONLY set it for ONE reoccurring payment type and ONE One-time up-front payment – so there’s not 6 month, 12 month and 24 month option.

    • Credits - how do these work? How are they given? Please explain.

    • Under Capabilities: What are private listings?
    • Under Capabilities: If Listings can be deleted, how are refunds handled - is there an alert to notify of the cancellation? Or are TOS set that there are no refunds.
    • Under Capabilities: 'Edit or Delete others' listings' What others?
    • Under Capabilities: Upload files - what types, sizes, how many?

    Has anyone used this Directory successfully???

    I do believe this could be a good product - if it was tweaked and more assistance given. Perhaps more beta testing?

    Over to you guys...

  • PC
    • WPMU DEV Initiate

    Hello Keran,

    Thanks for your recent email. Please accept my apologies as our staff missed your last few responses and you had to go with a different directory solution.

    However, I would like to assure you that it was not intentional and it does not happen regularly. It was an exception and we will ensure that it does not happen again in future.

    I have sent you an email and will really appreciate if you could please have a look at that.

    Cheers, PC
    WPMU DEV

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