Directories
A directory is a "mini database" of information. It is very flexible and can be used in many different scenarios. For example, you could have an events directory, a staff directory, or a directory of your organization's chapter offices throughout the country.
Each directory has two key components: the fields in the directory and the individual listings. If you imagine each directory as a spreadsheet, the fields are the header row and the listings are the individual rows of data.
What fields a directory contains is completely customizable.
When Would You Want to Use a Directory?
Directories are helpful when you have a lot of data that you would like to list on your website or that you would like to let your website visitors search through in various ways. Directories are also helpful when you want to give your website visitors a way to contribute data; you can let users submit directory listings, review their submissions, and approve or reject them.
For Example
Imagine you have a hundred chapter offices throughout the country. If your directory is a listing of your organization's chapter offices throughout the country, you may want to provide a list of all of the offices. You may also want to provide a way for your website visitors to search for an office by state or by proximity to a certain ZIP code. You may also want to let visitors search for offices that are open on the weekends or that currently need volunteers. A directory is an easy way to do all of these things.
Another example would be if you were to have a directory of newspapers in the United States. You could display a list of all of these newspapers on your website. You could let your users search for newspapers in Iowa that have a circulation of 100,000 people or more. You could also let users submit suggestions of newspapers to include in your directory. The directory could be set up so that their suggestions go into the directory automatically or so that they go into an approval queue for review by your staff.
Setting Up a Directory
For help setting up or maintaining a directory, please contact your Plus Three account manager. Or, for more information, please see:
- New Directory
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Create a new directory
- Find Directory
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Browse/edit/delete existing directories
- Fields
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Add/edit/delete fields available for use in directories
- Listings
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Add/edit/delete directory listings
- Upload
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Upload a spreadsheet of listings to a directory