We're finally in the final stages of feature adding and bug testing for the upcoming Staff Master v0.7 beta!  This should be one of our last beta releases before we feel comfortable enough that we can take that "beta" tag out of the title.  We appreciate all of the emails we've received with feature additions and bug reports.  Here is a full, and final list of features in the new version...

All available in Staff Master's Configuration:

• 4 complete "views" that you can link to create from any menu.  All views except List View are table-less, with custom style sheets targeting most of the major browsers ( IE, FireFox/Mozilla, Opera, and Safari ) to ensure that your staff look good no matter which browser checks them out.
  
  • All Staff View - previously packaged with the last release
  • By Department View - show only staff in a specific department
  • Single Staff View - show a single staff member
  • List View - much like the All Staff view, except this view is in table form for sites requiring a condensed "List style" view of their staff members.
• 2 styles you can choose from "out of the box" to apply independently to any view!
  • Default style - previously packaged with the last release that had heavy borders
  • "Clean" style - a new style that easily removes a lot of those borders, and makes other borders lighter in color for just a subtle structure to the page.
• Contact Information - now you can specify phone numbers, email, and/or addresses for your staff members.  With JavaScript enabled, the contact details stay hidden with a simple "View Contact Details..." link that, once clicked, slides your details out slick jQuery web 2.0 style.
• Custom Colors - on top of the different styles you can select, you can also specifically choose separate colors for all of the text.  This has a simple "On/Off" switch that allows you to create a new color scheme, or turn it off without touching any of the default styles.  These input boxes now correctly display a full Color Chooser when you click them so you won't have to look up any bizarre hex codes.
• Edit CSS - for those that Want to touch the default styles, there is now an Edit CSS button much like in your Joomla Template manager that'll allow advanced users to easily change and customize the styles in the browser.
• Staff Image Right/Left option - Specify if you would like all of your staff images to appear on the left or right hand side of the page.  You can see where we're headed with this, eventually having an automatically alternating staff view. The Auto-Alternate Left/Right has not been implemented yet.. but moving all your staff images from the right side to the left lets you keep things fresh a little longer.
• Header Text - we're still not sure how this slipped the last version, but now you'll be able to enter text that appears right below the page title, before any staff or departments.
• Linkable Staff/Department Names - these options provide a link to view all staff in a specific department, or a full page with the specific staff member, respectively.  If your staff bio's contain a lot of text, you can also use Joomla's Read More icon to keep your pages shorter, while being able to read the full bio in the Single Staff view that the staff name links to.  Also with on/off feature if you do not wish to have specific department or staff pages.
• Old-style rounded corner background images have been tossed in favor of a new jQuery JavaScript way of adding a little more structure around your staff members.  No more broken images or gaps in your border!  And we've even included this script separate from the contact details slider so if you're not a fan of the new rounded corner look, yiou can turn it off while still keeping your other JavaScript functionality.
• Bug Fixes include: Joomla menu now accessible without having to click the "Back to Joomla" button, implements jQuery under it's "no conflict" setting so as not to interfere with Joomla's tight MooTools integration, and several other bug fixes.

As you can see, there are a lot of things we've added, and our goal is to actually have a functioning bug tracker, as well as detailed documentation and FAQ before we release the next version later this week.  If you're feeling adventurous and would like to download the latest version now to help us 'alpha' test the 'beta' release and catch any last-minute bugs we may have missed, we sure would appreciate it!  Just send a quick email to our This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we'll be happy to put you to work... or.. let you help us find bugs.

Again, we really do appreciate all of your emails, from the "your design really stinks" to the "hey, just downloaded your component and it's great!"  They all help out in their own way!

-Travis @ Systems United