Improve documentation

[davidrhoderick]

When the plugin is installed, the documentation does not take you through steps completing the setup. For example, it states that since 5.2, wp_open_body and wp_footer are the hooks and doesn't mention anything in "Basic theme setup" beyond locating those hooks (nothing about changing the hooks in the plugin). However, this is definitely not the case as the hooks have to be changed since they default to website_before and website_after.

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Install the plugin.
2. Look at your WordPress version, see 5.2, and follow the steps to locate the hooks in "Basic theme setup". Do nothing else (nothing else is stated in the instructions).
3. Struggle with plugin for 20 minutes or longer.
4. Realize that "Basic theme setup" requires you to change the hook values as they are set to website_before and website_after values.

Expected behavior

wp_open_body and wp_footer should be entered by default as the hooks OR the "Basic theme setup" shouldn't be the one that requires you change those values. At least put it in the instructions!

Specifications

• Plugin Version: 0.5.4
• WordPress Version: 5.2
• Theme: Astra

Additional context

Honestly, this is a fantastic plugin and so much simpler than trying build something similar with Astra or Elementor or via a child theme. It's a shame the documentation or plugin isn't updated so they match. I almost gave up on using this because the instructions were unclear and this happens all too often with hundreds of plugins.

[JoryHogeveen]

Hi @davidrhoderick
Thank you for your feedback. I agree that this can be much improved. I'm also thinking about creating some kind of installation wizard and/or a video for this. Only time is my main issue at the moment :(.
I've updated the installation page for now to mention that users need to update the hook settings.
Any contributions are very welcome!

[gbassoc]

completely agree with @davidrhoderick, I managed to figure out how to set up the hooks for the Astra child theme, but where do I go after that? I have been scratching my head for an hour trying to figure out what to do next, where to put the shortcode?
I can see a couple of widgets but how do I make use of them?

[JoryHogeveen]

@gbassoc Questions like where to put the shortcode or how to use the widgets seem more like general WordPress questions to me.
Don't get me wrong but widgets are quite self explanatory as a WordPress core feature and a shortcode can be put anywhere you want in your page. The new block editor has a custom block meant for shortcodes. I even created a shortcode generator tool within the plugin settings.

Anyway, I still like to add an installation wizard to provide a better starting point for new users. But as I mentioned, any contributions on that part are very welcome as I'm maintaining this plugin in my free time.

[gbassoc]

hey @JoryHogeveen The plugin works great, a big thank you for creating it, I could only find 2-3 plugins offering sidebars!

You have a tab labeled shortcode but no explanation of what it is meant for, I had to play around with it before the penny dropped! Anyway, I managed to work out how to use the plugin after a couple of hours of trial and error. I could have had it all done in 5 mins if there were a few lines explaining the purpose of each tab.
While a wizard is good I think a few sentences explaining the tabs would s a lot easier than writing code for a wizard.