Users

There are two special user types (or roles): Dealers and Architects. This section describes how to add, update, and manage these user types.

Adding Users

To add a new user, hover over Users in the backend menu and click Add New. The next screen will allow you to create a new user and assign a Company name for that user.

Since this is a multisite installation, you will be able to add users that have already been created on the Dealer sites. To add an existing user, use the upper form on this page. Use the lower form to create a brand new user.

Add the username and email, then select the user’s Role. An Administrator has access to everything in the backend and should be reserved for STI employees and others who need access to maintain and update the website. Dealer and Architect roles allow those users to access the special Dealer and Architect sections of the website after they are logged in.

Next, choose wether to skip the confirmation email. By default, WordPress will send an email to the new user with a link to activate their account. The link will open a page and provide the user with an automatically generated password. To skip the confirmation email and automatic password generation, check the box here.

If you skip the confirmation email it will be necessary to update the user account after it’s been added and create a password for that user. You will then be responsible to communicate the username and password to the new user.

Updating Users

In the backend, hover over Users and click All Users. Select the user to update from the list. You can filter the list by user Role to more easily find the user you are looking for.

Click on the user account you wish to edit. On the next screen you can add or update user information such as First and Last names, Company name and website URL. You can also add or change the user’s password. Click the Update User button at the bottom of the page when finished.

Content

This section describes how to make add and updates blog posts, special pages, events, photo galleries, testimonials, products and downloadable files.

Message Board Posts

Most blog posts will be categorized to appear on the main STI blog page. Below are instructions for adding posts to the Dealer and Architect Message Board pages.

All posts categorized under the main Dealer or Architect Message Board categories will not be visible to regular visitors and will only appear on the respective Message Board pages. This also applies to posts categories in sub-categories under the main Dealer or Architect Message Board categories.

The Dealer and Architect Message Board pages begin with an introductory post describing to the user the special pages they have access to. These posts are categorized as Dealer Lead Post or Architect Dealer Post.

Home Page

Slideshow
The Home page slideshow is set up using the Slider Revolution plugin. To edit the slideshow, click on the Slider Revolution tab near the bottom of the admin menu. Full documentation for the plugin can be seen here: https://www.themepunch.com/revslider-doc/slider-revolution-documentation/

Three editable content areas appear beneath the slideshow on the home page: a two-column section, parallax section, and another two-column section.

Two Column Section
The left and right columns contain text boxes that can be edited just like the normal text editor. These areas can contain a combination of text, images, and links. Animations can also be added to each column by selecting the Animation Type underneath each column.

Parallax Section
The parallax section contains a background image, title, text area and a button/link. The background image should be large since it will be the full width of the browser window. 1200 pixels wide or larger is recommended. This area also allows you to set an Animation Type that will affect how the text and button appear over the background image.

Special Pages

  • My Profile – logged in users can access this page to update their user information, including their First and Last names, Company name, and password.
  • Dealer FAQs – the content on this page is not visible on the STI site but is used to populate the FAQ pages on the Dealer websites. This allows STI to change the Dealer site FAQ page content globally by editing just one page.

Events

Events can be added to the calendar by hovering over the Events tab in the backend and clicking Add New.

Regular visitors should not be able to view special events for Dealers. When adding Dealer only events to the calendar make sure to assign the event to the Dealer Events category. Logged in Dealers will be able to view all regular events and the Dealer only events.

Testimonials

Testimonials can be added and edited by hovering over the Testimonials tab in the backend and clicking Testimonials to edit existing testimonials, or Add Testimonial to create a new one.

The name, and optionally, the position and location or company of the person giving the testimonial is entered into the Title field. The testimonial quote is entered into the text editor box below. No text styling is required.

Testimonials appear in random order in the footer area of the website.

Photo Galleries

Photo Galleries can be added and edited by hovering over the Photo Galleries tab in the backend and clicking Add Photo Gallery to add a new one or clicking on Photo Galleries to edit existing galleries.

When editing an existing gallery, make sure your text editor is in Visual mode, click anywhere on the exiting gallery and then click the pencil icon that appears at the top of the gallery images. Now you can add to, remove from, or reorder the gallery images.

Updated Gallery Image

Tagging images
Tags can be added to individual images. These tags are the same tags used for posts and can be added to images by clicking on an image to edit. The Image Tags field appears on the lower right. Existing tags can be added to each image, or new tags can be created by clicking the “plus” icon in the Image tags field. When individual Photo Galleries are being viewed by your site visitors, the galleries can be filtered by image tags.

Videos

The Videos page displays a gallery of videos using the Easy Videos plugin. To add new videos or video galleries, hover over the Easy Videos tab in the backend and make your selection.

Each video needs a title, a link to the video and an assigned gallery (similar to post categories).

Videos assigned to the Dealer gallery will only appear on the dealer access pages.

Text can also be added in the text editor and it will appear as a caption under the video. See the example below:

New Video Example

Once one or more videos have been added to a gallery, that gallery can be embedded on a page. On any page, click the video icon in the page editor toolbar (see below) to select a video gallery and column settings.

Video Gallery Example

Downloads

Some STI files are made available for Dealers and Architects to download. These files are uploaded to the site by hovering over the Downloads tab in the backend and clicking Add New. Add a file or files using the options under the text editor. Choose a category for the file from the list on the right, or create a new category.

On Dealer and Architect pages, downloadable files can be displayed individually or by category. To show an individual download, click the Inert Download button next to the Add Media button above the text editor. For displaying download categories, add a shortcode where “dealer-handbook” is the name of the category slug (the category name all in lowercase with spaces replaced by dashes) you wish to display. See the example below:
Download Shortcode

File downloads are tracked, and a log can be seen by hovering over The Downloads tab and selecting Logs. Logs can be filtered by date and status of the download (completed, failed, etc.), or exported into a CSV file for filtering using a spreadsheet application.

Projects

Projects posts are a way to showcase completed projects or turf installations. They are created by hovering over the Projects tab in the backend and clicking Add Project. Project posts contain a regular text editor box for the Project description, Project location details fields, and a Project specific image gallery,

Project used in the Project can be highlighted using the Featured Projects field. You can select as many products as you want form the existing Products list.

On the right you can categorize the Project by Project Type. This area works the same way categories do for you posts. Finally, a featured Image can be selected. This image will be displayed as a large panner image at the top of the Product page. The best size for this image is 1200 pixels wide by 600 pixels high.

Products

This section covers adding and editing turf Products in the website’s product catalog. Applications are used to group products together like post categories. Unlike post categories, content can be added to the Applications for display on application page like: https://synthetic-turf.com/applications/eztee-tee-lines-and-hitting-mats/.

Adding & Editing Products

Products are added and edited by hovering over the Products tab in the backend and selecting Products to view the list and edit products, or Add New to create a product.

Products have multiple content areas. Content in the first text editor box will be displayed in the first tab on a product page. The next text editor will populate the product’s Specifications tab.

Currently, links to a product PDF spec sheet are being included in the Specifications list. But it is important to also include this file in the PDF Spec Sheet box when creating a new product.

Products can have two Featured Images – one to display on the Products list page and product sliders, and one to display at the top of a single product page. If no Product List Image exists, the Featured Image will be used instead.

Be sure to follow the existing product format and assign the new product to an Application before publishing.

Adding & Editing Applications

Applications work as product categories but they also have their own pages. Applications are added and edited by selecting Applications under the Products tab. Click on an Application from the list to edit it, or create a new Application using the form on the left. Individual Applications have many fields that control how the Applications are used and displayed – both for the STI site and the Dealer site. Below is a breakdown of those fields:

  • Name: The name of the Application.
  • Slug: This is generated automatically.
  • Parent: This is not used.
  • Full Description: This content is display on the individual Application page and can be formatted using the text editor.
  • Benefits & Advantages: This content is display on the first tab on a single Application page and can be formatted using the text editor.
  • Excerpt: This is a short description that appears on the Applications Overview page: https://synthetic-turf.com/applications/
  • Tagline: This is a very short description that appears on the Home page applications list.
  • Hide on Applications Page: Checking this box will hide the Application from the Applications Overview page on the STI site.
  • Hide on Dealer Site: On Dealer websites, Applications pages are generated by the Applications on the STI site. If you want an Application to be visible on the STI site, but hidden on Dealer sites, check this box.
  • Featured Image: This image is used as the full width banner at the top of the Application page. It also appears in the list of Applications on the Applications Overview page.
  • Application Gallery: Single Application pages can have links in the sidebar to a specific Photo Gallery. Select a Photo Gallery from the list to link the Application to that gallery.

Contact Forms

The Contact Form on your website has been set up and tested to work properly without modification. Editing the forms or settings is not recommended. However, you may find the need to view previously submitted contact forms. This can be done by hovering over Forms in the backend and clicking on Entries. A list of previously submitted entries will be shown. Clicking the first name of any entry will open that entry up for viewing.

You may also wish to download a list of entries. This can be done by hovering over Forms and clicking Import/Export. On the next page, choose the General Information Request form from the dropdown list. You will them be given options for which fields to export and an option to select a date range. Clicking the Download Export File with provide you with a CSV file of the entries you selected.

For dealer websites created before 2016, you can still find your older contact form submission by clicking the Contact Form DB link at the bottom of the admin menu.

Social Sharing

Your site visitors can easily share your posts on social networks. At the top of each post, a list of social icons appears. Clicking these icons will allow your visitors to re-post your post, or a link to your post, on a variety of social networks or by email. By default, the social network list includes Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, and email. This list can be edited in the backend by hovering over Settings and and clicking Sharing. This opens the Sharing Settings page. On this page you can drag and drop Sharing Buttons and add to or remove from the list of sharing services that will appear at the top of your posts.

The Sharing Settings page also provides you with the option to automatically publish any new posts to your own social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Path, and Google+. Click the Connect button next to any one of these services to initiate the set up process. For more information on completing the setup, please see this link: http://jetpack.com/support/publicize/

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