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We’ve now made the new version features available in the free version of the NiftyGridZPro WordPress plugin.

Now you can try out global slot messaging for yourself! Download and installation instructions are here

We’ll be announcing details on release for the paid license version a little later. Watch this space.

Another enhancement for the next release – an admin settings page.

(A global slot message is one that appears in a random position in every (qualifying) grid. A qualifying grid is one that has four or more products in it AND doesn’t have its own slot message set up in its shortcode.)

This is for global defaults – those that apply to every grid that doesn’t override them with options set in their shortcode.

You can now set your associate/referral id here. Once set here, you no longer need to put yours into each post’s shortcode. Though saying that, the shortcode builder still needs it and must include it in its generated code (for backwards comaptibility reasons).

Best of all, this new settings screen let’s you set your global slot message in real time!

So basically, it broadcasts your new marketing message in real time right across your site. It’s so easy to do, you might have one in the morning, a different one in the afternoon and one for the evening!

We wanted to add a really effective way of using a slot message globally. By that, we mean that any product grid created by NiftyGridZPro should automatically use this global slot message.

Remember, a slot message is an image (optionally linked to a destination) that is displayed randomly in a product grid, temporarily replacing what was in that position already.

We’ve managed that now by setting the feature on by default – with default slot message settings all set up for the Happy Halloween one you see across the site. Like here amongst the cute puppies 🙂
(Edited later to add: It was too early for that message, so it’s now a flapping bats teaser …and now it’s about the V3 release of NiftyGridZPro!)

With a default of it being switched on, you’ll need to remember to switch it off on any grids where you don’t want it. Note that it won’t be shown on any grids with fewer than four items.

The great thing about this approach is that when it’s time for a different marketing message, for example in the run up to Christmas, we only need to change the defaults. Then, bam, it’s suddenly spread across the entire site.

And to switch the global slot message off entirely, it’s just a case of changing the default for the feature to off.

So changing the defaults via the admin settings panel is the solution to setting a global marketing message in one simple step.

Cool 🙂

As usual, here’s the shortcode used for the grid – note that there’s no mention of a slot message as that’s all done via the default options already set.

[niftygridzpro use_only_product_names_in_titles=1 title_font_size="12px" title_alignment="center" cell_max_width="180px" description_length="60" search_term="cute puppies" page_size="9" product_background_color="#ffffff" allow_interaction=1 show_visitor_search_form=0 tracking_code="ngrdz_blg_ungp_slotmssg1"]

Of course, if you visit this post in the future, it won’t be a Happy Halloween message, it’ll be about something else appropriate for the time.

Another great new feature is added in the next release of NiftyGridZPro (no release date set yet).

Slot Message feature

Benefits:

• Get your special offer or other message out quickly and easily
• Your image can be anywhere online as long as it’s publicly accessible
• Random grid position chosen for your slot message
• Image in your slot message can be linked to anywhere you like
• Caters for image alt text – great for screen readers for the visually impaired and great for SEO as a result!

Switching it on

Switch on this new feature with the shortcode option use_message_slot=1 (default is not to use it)

It has some partner shortcode options (examples given):

• message_slot_destination_url="https://www.zazzle.com/coupons?rf=238582202591969585&tc=my_tc"
• message_slot_image_url="https://niftytoolz.com/law-office-collection-message-slot.png"
• message_slot_image_alt_text="how much can you save with these coupons?"

For best results, the image used needs to be 500px wide by 650px tall or thereabouts. You can use square images to make it really stand out.

Enjoy 🙂

Here’s the shortcode used:

[niftygridzpro title_font_size="12px" title_alignment="center" cell_max_width="180px" cell_border_color="#aaaaaa" cell_background_color="#ffffff" cell_font_color="#333333" description_font_size="12px" description_alignment="center" description_length="0" include_product_names_in_titles=1 include_by_line=0 include_tags_line=0 store_or_collection="hightonridley" search_term="barbican" sort_type="popularity" sort_direction="desc" page_size="15" page_number="1" product_background_color="#ffffff" allow_interaction=1 show_visitor_search_form=0 tracking_code="ngrdz_blg_ungp_slotmssg" use_message_slot=1 message_slot_image_url="https://niftytoolz.com/law-office-collection-message-slot.png" message_slot_destination_url="https://www.zazzle.com/coupons?rf=238582202591969585&tc=ngrdz_blg_ungp_slotmssg" message_slot_image_alt_text="how much can you save with these coupons?"]