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wp-symposium-toolbar

Tools Open Source PHP WordPress
=== Plugin Name ===
Plugin Name: WP Symposium Toolbar
Description: The Ultimate Toolbar Plugin - And the WordPress Toolbar can finally be part of your site.
Author: AlphaGolf_fr
Contributors: AlphaGolf_fr, Central Geek
Donate Link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3DELJEHZEFGHQ
Tags: toolbar, adminbar, bar, navigation, nav-menu, menu, menus, theme, brand, branding, members, membership
Requires at least: 3.8
Tested up to: 4.2.2
Stable tag: 0.32.0
Version: 0.32.3
License: GPLv2 or later
License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

== Description ==

Customize the WordPress Toolbar the way *you* want...

This plugin is targetted for WP Symposium sites.  However, if you're not running a Social Network site but you're willing to customize the Toolbar, you may use this plugin and benefit from its generic per-role settings, its custom menus, as well as its styling settings.  Give this plugin a try!

= In a nutshell =
When I began this project, I was aiming at primarily providing WP Symposium sites with a little more functionality.  I needed to ensure WP Symposium is actually activated, and what was initially a safeguard eventually became a feature : WP Symposium Toolbar can function as a stand alone plugin as well as integrate with WP Symposium.  Looking at the result, I'd like to stress that the scope of the generic options of this plugin by far exceeds those dedicated to WP Symposium sites solely...

Brand the Toolbar: put your logo over your menu at your colours.  Gather personal information in one place: in the top right corner of the Toolbar, leaving room in the site for its actual content.  Determine which information will be displayed in the Toolbar to each role of your site: hide unneeded information to your members, and eventually hide the backend of the site.  Provide navigation from the Toolbar via per role access to custom menus: control which roles can access which parts of your site.  Show the Toolbar to non logged-in members, with links to your Login page along with a custom Howdy message.  Multisite wise: each site of your network can have individual links and styles, or your network can function as though it is one big site.  On top of all this, style the Toolbar beyond the limits of your imagination: colours, gradients, shadow, fonts can all be changed from the Styles settings page, which by the way has a nice real-time preview mode for you to play with the styling before actually saving...

You are no longer bound to showing to your members information you don't want them to see.  You are no longer bound to using just a theme navbar for navigating your site, or network of sites.  You are no longer bound to displaying that dark bar that doesn't fit with the overall look of your site.  You are no longer bound to configuring several plugins to make the Toolbar at your wishes.

My warm thanks go to Louis, my friend at [Central Geek](http://centralgeek.com), for his help in specifying and testing the plugin.  He's always been available with wise advices whenever I was needing them, so that WPS Toolbar is as much his plugin as it is mine.

Now the usual bulleted list of features...

= Features =
* Decide to show or hide each of the default items in the WordPress Toolbar: site-related, content-related and user-related items
* Create your custom menus using the WordPress NavMenus page, and add them to the WP Toolbar, along with your custom icons on top of menus
* Per-role management for most of the settings, items and menus, adding visitors to the roles of the site
* Redesign the WP User Menu ("My Account"), by selecting each of its default items individually and adding your own custom items
* WP Symposium sites - Add links to WP Symposium to the WP Toolbar, providing single-click access to WP Symposium from anywhere in your WordPress site
* WP Symposium sites - Notify your users of new mails and new friend requests, while linking to their WP Symposium mailbox and friends' list
* Add share icons to the Toolbar, so that your members and visitors can share your site with their preferred social network
* Style the Toolbar your way: custom colours, gradient, transparency, shadow, fonts, for the Toolbar and its menus
* Real-time preview mode at the styling page  :-)
* Import / export the plugin settings, ideal for backups or exchanging those settings accross your sites

== Installation ==

= Installing the plugin =

Use the WordPress feature to install the plugin from the WP Dashboard, Plugins > Add New.  Search for the plugin by its name, or alternatively, upload the plugin as a ZIP file downloaded from wordpress.org.

A WP Symposium Toolbar plugin should then be available in the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress: activate the plugin.

= Configuring the plugin for your site =

A new menu item will appear in the WP Dashboard, called "Toolbar", where you will find options for the plugin.  The plugin default settings are relatively conservative, hence upon activation you shouldn't notice much difference in the Toolbar: once the plugin is activated, you should visit the options page, and modify these options so they fit your needs.  Please refer to the help tabs of the options page for more information.

If you're running WP Symposium, the first activation of the plugin will create default items in the WordPress Toolbar:

* For users, it'll add menu items under the WP User Menu on the upper right corner of the screen, and notification icons for mails and friend requests close to that WP User Menu.
* It will also add an Admin Menu with links to WP Symposium settings pages, visible only by site admins.  The content is that of the WP Dashboard sidebar menu for WP Symposium, you cannot edit it, only show or hide the whole menu.

Whether you're running WP Symposium or not, the first activation of the plugin will create one menu, with links to the Login / Register / Lost Password pages, as defined on your site.

You may, of course, modify these settings, create your own custom menus, edit the default ones, and eventually remove them from the WP Toolbar.

= Sorting out issues =

If you're running WP Symposium, remember to visit the WP Symposium Install page "after you add a WP Symposium shortcode to a page; change pages with WP Symposium shortcodes; if you change WordPress Permalinks" (as stated by WP Symposium), that will re-generate the WP Symposium Admin menu in the Toolbar.

For custom menus, WPS Toolbar has known issues with plugins/themes that filter menu items on a per-role basis.  In general, this is achieved through a field stored as a page metadata of any given name, and WPS Toolbar simply cannot find this information.

In general, if you notice odd things with the plugin, visit the Options page, and save the options (even unchanged), that will trigger a few cleanup tasks.

= Removing the plugin from your site =

I would be really sorry to hear that you are not happy with this plugin, but whatever the reason is, you should know that the uninstall process will not remove NavMenus that were created for the Toolbar, since they could be used somewhere else in your site. Therefore, after uninstalling the plugin, please visit the NavMenus page at Appearance > Menus, and remove manually the menus you are no longer using.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= When do I need this plugin? =

You need this plugin when you'd like to take advantage from its main features: per-role settings and custom menus, as well as its styling settings. When you'd like to hide some of the WP Toolbar default items: the WP logo, the Comments icon (e.g. if comments are totally deactivated on your site, or replaced with a forum), the authors' icons  (e.g. if your theme provides these links lower in the page). When you'd like to add or remove items from the User Menu. When you'd like to add a corporate menu in the upper left corner with your own icon. When you'd like to add navigation functionality to the Toolbar. When you'd like the Toolbar to show different information and links based on membership level. Etc...

= When don't I need this plugin? =

You don't need this plugin if your sole aim is to hide the WP Toolbar. There are other, smaller plugins that are targetted for that, or eventually you could achieve this with a few lines in your theme's functions.php file - google it.

= With such a level of functionalities, this plugin must be a resources hog? =

Performances have been addressed as best as possible. Most of the job of the plugin is performed off-line upon saving options from the options page. The remaining, dynamic part of the job is performed at page load: all it has to do is take the information or menu, and send it for display if the user can access it.

= I have activated your plugin, set the option to show the Toolbar to my role, however I can't see the Toolbar in the frontend ! =

In WPS Toolbar settings, make sure the Toolbar should actually show for the role you are using.  Even if you...