Staffer plugin v2 update - be aware of changes before updating

By UUA Web Team
September 23, 2017, 3:02 pm EDT
A new version (v2) of the Staffer plugin was just made available, and I updated it on our site (uumedford.org). I wanted to let folks know about some significant changes that will impact your sites; you may want to hold off on updating. Here's a link to our Minister & Staff page, which demonstrates how the new plugin works: http://uumedford.org/about-us/our-minister-and-staff/ Here are the changes to be aware of:
  • Individual staff profiles now no longer have their own URL or page -- instead, the plugin has moved to a 'lightbox' style where staff profiles can only be seen from the overall staff page by clicking on the staff member. This means any links to individual staff members on your site will be broken after the update, and you'll have to update them to link to the overall Minister & Staff page instead.
  • The staff list (seen on the Minister & Staff page) no longer shows an excerpt of the biography; instead, it just shows the staff name, title, department, and any social media links. To see the biography you have to click on the staff member's name.
In particular, not seeing the biographies directly on the Minister & Staff page seems like a big step backwards. I'm considering simply changing the minister & staff pages to just be 'regular' pages rather than use the plugin, but I've added a couple bugs/requests for restoring those features to the plugin author's support page, and will see if they address them first.