WP Instructions Plugin
As someone who regularly sets up WordPress sites for clients, often with bespoke themes and various plugins installed, I find it useful and helpful to include basic instructions for them. I used to send a text document to them by email when I handed the site over, but more recently have been including an instructions page as a tab in WordPress.
This plugin allows you to create a custom instructions page for a wordpress blog. Especially useful for those setting up WordPress sites for other people. You can use it to provide instructions for use of specific plugins etc.
Installation:
- Upload the wp_instructions folder to your wp-content/plugins folder.
- Activate the plugin from the Plugins page.
Usage:
To create your custom instructions simply edit the instructions.txt file in the wp_instructions folder. You can use html if you want. Numbered lists are a good format for giving step-by -step instructions.
Handy Tip:
As pointed out by David A (See comments for this post) you can use WordPress to create an instructions page and save it as private. You can then copy and paste the code from the code view of the WP text editor into the plugin's instructions.txt file, thus creating an html formatted instructions page without having to write any html yourself.
Download:
Hi all,
Just a quick note to users of this plugin - the plugin is currently set so that all user levels are able to view the instructions. If you wish to change this so that only users of a certain level (i.e Authors or administrators) are able to view the instructions you can change the following line in the plugin's code:
add_menu_page('WP Instructions', 'Instructions', 1, __FILE__, 'wp_instructions_page');
Replace the number 1 with the number that relates to the user level you want. For more info about user levels please visit this page on the wordpress site Levels and Users for WordPress.
Also for non-english users you can always replace the word 'Instructions' with the translation in your own language.
I hope these tips come in handy.
Sam
Hey Sam, nice plugins. thx for sharing.
Woould you be willing to share the instruction you give out for new people accessing wordpress? I'm turning over a new site to another group in my company and this would save me a few hours of writing and creating screen shots.
The download is an empty file!?!?
Hi Ken,
All of the instructions I have written are generally to do with using specific plugins like Podpress or ANIga. They would probably not be that useful to you. You could always take some of the instructions from the wordpress.org site and summarise them.
Sam
Hi David
This problem (in IE only) should be solved now. Appologies for the inconvenience.
Sam
Hi, nice idea! However, I'm wondering if it can be modified to pull a specific page from Wordpress instead of using a text file. That way you could use WP's page editor to edit up your instructions with formatting.
So far, it appears that if you were to create a page template with no header, sidebar, footer- just the page content code, then create a page in WP, make it private, and use that blank page template, it should work fine as a replacement for Instructions.txt under your plugin (provided the path is changed in the plugin).
You'd probably need to use pretty permalinks to keep the path stable, or provide a selector within the plugin page to pick the right page, but otherwise it should work fine? Does this sound workable/useful, or have I strayed too far from the path (again) ?
Hi David,
Thats an interesting thought. I will think about integrating such a feature for a future release of the plugin.
Sam
Hi again, I discovered that by using WP to create a Private page of instructions, you can copy and paste from the Code view into the Instructions.txt, and it displays perfectly.
You will still likely need to upload the text file into the plugin folder (your server directories, like mine, are probably not writeable for security reasons), but at least you can use WP to write and maintain the instructions.
Thanks again for such a great idea, and donation incoming!
David
p.s. The captcha system is giving me a headache, three tries and no luck so far. I'm triplechecking before submitting, and it sure LOOKS right…
Hi David
Thanks. I'm glad you found it so useful.
Sam
I can't find a download link for any of your plugins. Am I missing something?
@Weathervane: Hi, erm… the big button that says 'download file' under the heading 'Download:' at the bottom of each plugin post!
The plugin doesn't work op wp 2.5
@Kevin: I have tested it on WP 2.5 and it works fine for me. Have you tried re-installing the plugin?
Hi Sam
Nice plugin. Was looking for something like this. The WP admin plugin manager states that there is a 1.0 version, but the HTML link refers to your flash clock plugin. Maybe you can fix this?
Just installed it and I think it is a great little plugin - really useful, many thanks for your hard work.
It did not seem to like it that I have not installed WordPress in the root (blog homepage is in different directory from where WordPress is installed), so had to edit the plugin to point it at the right directory for the text file.
I also just noticed that WordPress is suggesting an update but linking to wp-digi-clock-plugin-01beta
Sorry, could have been more useful if I had included my edit.
Changed get_bloginfo(’url’) for get_bloginfo(’wpurl’)
I keep downloading and upgrading, but it keeps telling me that a new version is available. The zip I download produces a folder name wp_instructions_01, with another wp_instructions folder within. No matter which folder I put up there, the plugins page says there’s a newer version available.
could you please check to see if the package is correct? I’m using 2.5.1. I read that your plugin was compatible with 2.5x…. please advise if this isn’t true, thanks!
[...] I came across a plugin that did this but is was not easily updatable and had some issues with a couple of installations. So I’ve improved on it and here is WP Help inspired by Sam Burdge’s wp-instructions. [...]
Hey Sam. Neat plugin.
I did run into some issues due to the use of the fopen function.
I wrote a plugin that generates a table of contents for content.
Someone contacted me today saying that they wanted to integrate the table of contents with your instructions plugin. So I did. I also fixed the fopen bug.
So, here’s a link to the integrated code (just the .php file, not instructions.txt) along with two screenshots. One screenshot is when my table of contents plugin is activated. The other is when it’s de-activated.
http://tinyurl.com/5n3qj6
Now I’m going to go check out the WP Help plugin
Enjoy!
I forgot to give the url of my plugin. Here it is:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-table-of-contents/