About this plugin
Baxtersweb Guide Dots adds contextual guidance directly inside the WordPress admin. Place interactive guide dots beside the settings, fields and workflows people actually use, so instructions stay connected to the screen they explain.
It is built for client handovers, editor training, internal documentation and website-specific reminders. Instead of sending someone back to a PDF, email or separate manual, Guide Dots lets them open the guidance while they are working.
Use it to explain a custom field, document an unusual setting, walk a client through an editing process, or leave useful implementation notes for future maintenance.
Contextual guidance where it is needed
A guide dot is a visual marker placed on a WordPress admin screen. Selecting the dot opens the guidance attached to that location.
Multiple guides can live on the same screen. The guide count gives users a quick way to see what guidance is available, while Previous and Next controls make it easy to move through a sequence.
Organise guidance by audience
Create separate audiences for different users or purposes, such as Clients, Editors or Developers. Each audience has its own identifying colour, making different types of guidance easy to recognise.
Guide ordering can be managed per audience, so a collection of individual notes can also become a structured walkthrough.
Share guided tours
Guided Tours let you step through the ordered guides for a selected audience or copy a view-only tour link to share with someone else.
The Guide Manager shows the tour sequence as a clean numbered list, making it easy to check what someone will see and in which order.
Create and manage guides without leaving the admin
Authorised users can create, edit, reposition and remove guides directly inside WordPress. Guide placement appears immediately while it is saved, helping the interaction remain responsive even on slower hosting.
The Guide Manager provides filtering, bulk actions, audience-specific drag-to-reorder controls and a central view of existing guidance.
Quick Intro for first-time setup
A replayable Quick Intro walks new users through creating their first guide, opening it, editing it, repositioning it and using Guided Tours. Tutorial progress is stored per user, so each administrator can run it independently.
Keep website handovers useful
Traditional handover documents can become difficult to follow as a website changes. Guide Dots keeps screen-specific instructions inside the website itself, where they remain easier to find and maintain.
It works particularly well for:
- Client website handovers.
- Custom WordPress builds.
- Content management instructions.
- Internal website documentation.
- Technical guidance for developers.
- Training new editors or administrators.
- Explaining custom fields and plugin settings.
- Recording important website-specific processes.
Key features
- Place contextual guide dots on WordPress admin screens.
- Add clear guidance to each dot.
- Create separate audiences with identifying colours.
- Add multiple guides to the same admin screen.
- Open the current screen’s guide list from the guide count.
- Navigate guides using Previous and Next controls.
- Reorder guides for a selected audience.
- Start or share ordered Guided Tours.
- Open shared tours in view-only mode.
- Edit and reposition existing guide dots.
- Hide or show guides from the WordPress admin bar.
- Filter and manage guides from one organised admin area.
- Use the replayable Quick Intro for onboarding.
- Keep documentation attached to the website it describes.
- Designed specifically for the WordPress admin area.
Guide Dots is deliberately focused. It is not a learning management system, frontend product-tour builder or general documentation platform. Its purpose is persistent, contextual guidance for the WordPress admin.