Adding a YouTube Help Widget to the Evolution CMS Manager

Sometimes the simplest support improvement is putting the right training material directly into the manager. This plugin example embeds a YouTube video or playlist on the Evolution CMS home dashboard so editors do not have to search for instructions elsewhere.

Use case

The original package was built for client projects where editors kept losing the link to their help video. By placing the video on the manager start page, the training material stayed visible every time they logged in.

Plugin idea

The plugin listens to OnManagerWelcomeHome and injects a dashboard widget. It supports either a single video ID or a playlist ID.

// Youtube Help
switch ($modx->Event->name) {
    case 'OnManagerWelcomeHome':
        if (isset($modx->Event->params['id'])) {
            if ($modx->Event->params['embedType'] == 'playlist') {
                $addPart = 'videoseries?list=';
                $rel = '&rel=0';
            } else {
                $addPart = '';
                $rel = '?rel=0';
            }

            $id = $modx->Event->params['id'];
            $output = '<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9">'
                . '<iframe src="//youtube.com/embed/' . $addPart . $id . $rel . '" frameborder="0"></iframe>'
                . '</div>';
        }
        break;
}

Suggested plugin properties

• id — the video ID or playlist ID
• embedType — either video or playlist

Why this is useful

• editors always know where to find onboarding help
• support requests drop for repetitive manager tasks
• project-specific training can live inside the project itself

This is a small example, but it captures a good Evolution CMS pattern: use lightweight manager plugins to solve real editorial friction quickly.