AT-Float Bar — User Guide

AT-Float Bar is a premium plugin. Get your licence at the Altechmind Store — it includes the plugin download, automatic updates and support.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction & Key Features
2. Your Licence — What's Included
3. System Requirements
4. Download & Installation
5. Activate Your Licence
6. First-Time Setup
7. Contact Tab — WhatsApp, Phone & Email
8. Social Tab — Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn & Twitter/X
9. Custom Buttons
10. Appearance Tab
11. Visibility & Page Exclusions
12. Saving Settings
13. Updates
14. Moving Your Licence to Another Site
15. Privacy — What the Plugin Sends
16. Deactivation & Uninstallation
17. Getting Support

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1. Introduction & Key Features #

AT-Float Bar is a lightweight, high-performance WordPress plugin developed by Altechmind Technologies (OPC) Pvt. Ltd. It adds a beautiful floating contact and navigation bar to any WordPress website — letting visitors reach you on WhatsApp, phone, email, and social media with a single tap, from any page.

It needs zero coding and has no external dependencies. Your visitors' browsers never contact any third party because of the plugin. The only outside connection is from your server to store.altechmind.com, and only to check your licence and deliver updates (see Privacy).

Key Features #

• 9 button types — WhatsApp, Phone, Email, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, and 2 fully custom buttons
• 5 desktop positions — Float Right, Float Left, Bottom Row, Edge Panel Right, Edge Panel Left
• Mobile & tablet app-style bottom bar — independent override, displays like an iOS/Android nav bar on screens ≤ 768 px
• Dark mode — Auto (follows OS), Always Light, Always Dark
• Per-button hex colour picker with live preview
• WhatsApp with pre-filled message and pulse ring animation
• Hover tooltip labels, auto-positioned per layout
• Slide-in entrance animation on page load
• 3 button shapes (Circle, Pill, Square) and 3 sizes (Small, Medium, Large)
• Device visibility control — hide on mobile, hide on desktop
• Page exclusions — hide bar on specific posts or pages by ID
• WhatsApp opens web.whatsapp.com on desktop, native app on mobile
• Zero jQuery, zero CDN, zero external fonts, zero visitor tracking
• Fully accessible — ARIA labels, focus rings, reduced-motion support
• Secure automatic updates — signed licence checks and checksum-verified downloads
• Safe uninstall — removes all plugin data on deletion

Use Cases #

• Small business contact bar — WhatsApp + Phone + Email visible on every page
• Academic journal or institutional website — social links and contact in one place
• Mobile app-style navigation for service businesses (Home, Store, Contact, About)
• E-commerce stores — WhatsApp support + direct store link
• Professional services — quick call and email access for client-facing websites

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2. Your Licence — What's Included #

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3. System Requirements #

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4. Download & Installation #

Step 1 — Download the plugin #

1. Sign in at store.altechmind.com/dashboard (we email you a one-time code — no password needed).
2. Open Licenses. Your AT-Float Bar licence card shows your key and a Download button.
3. Click Download to save at-float-bar.zip. If the link has expired because the page was open for a while, refresh the page and click again.

Method A — Upload via WordPress Admin #

1. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
2. Navigate to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
3. Click Choose File and select at-float-bar.zip.
4. Click Install Now and wait for the upload to complete.
5. Click Activate Plugin.

Method B — Manual FTP/SFTP Upload #

1. Extract at-float-bar.zip on your local machine.
2. Upload the at-float-bar/ folder to /wp-content/plugins/ on your server.
3. In WordPress admin, go to Plugins and click Activate under AT-Float Bar.

Already using an older (free) version? #

Upload the new ZIP the same way. WordPress will ask whether to replace the current version with the uploaded one — choose Replace current with uploaded. All your existing bar settings are kept.

Post-Installation Verification #

• Float Bar menu item appears in the WordPress admin sidebar.
• The settings page shows 6 tabs: Contact, Social, Custom, Appearance, Visibility, Licence.
• Default settings are created automatically on first activation — WhatsApp, Phone, and Email buttons are pre-enabled (but require your details to display).

Deactivating and reactivating the plugin preserves all your settings.

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5. Activate Your Licence #

1. In your store account, open Licenses and click Copy next to your key.
2. In WordPress, go to Float Bar → Licence tab.
3. Paste the key into Licence key and click Activate.
4. The status changes to Active, and you'll see Updates until, Sites used and Last checked.

Activation binds the licence to this site's address and uses one of your licence's sites. www. and non-www. versions of the same domain count as the same site.

Licence status explained #

Licence tab buttons #

• Activate — binds your key to this site.
• Re-validate — checks your status with the store right now (it also checks automatically once a day).
• Deactivate — releases this site's seat so you can use the licence elsewhere. The bar keeps working.
• Use a different key — replaces the stored key.

Good to know: the floating bar works with or without an active licence. A licence is only required to receive updates. If the store is ever unreachable, your site is never blocked.

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6. First-Time Setup #

After activation, go to Float Bar in the WordPress admin sidebar. Recommended setup order for a new installation:

1. Open the Licence tab and activate your key (see section 5).
2. Open the Contact tab — enable WhatsApp and enter your number.
3. Open the Appearance tab — choose your preferred position and dark mode setting.
4. Click Save Settings (or press Ctrl+S / Cmd+S).
5. Visit your website's frontend — the floating bar should be visible immediately.
6. Return to the admin panel to fine-tune colours, add more buttons, and configure visibility as needed.

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7. Contact Tab — WhatsApp, Phone & Email #

Each contact button has an enable/disable toggle at the top right of its section. The section expands when enabled, revealing its configuration fields.

WhatsApp #

Desktop behaviour: On non-touch devices, clicking the WhatsApp button opens web.whatsapp.com instead of the app. On mobile and tablet, it opens the native WhatsApp app directly.

Phone #

Enter your phone number in any format (e.g. +91 98765 43210). The button generates a tel: link. On desktop, this opens the system default calling app. On mobile, it initiates a direct call.

Email #

Enter a valid email address and an optional pre-filled subject line. The button generates a mailto: link that opens the visitor's default email client with the subject already populated.

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8. Social Tab — Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn & Twitter/X #

All four social buttons are disabled by default. Enable each one individually and paste your profile or page URL. Each button has its own colour picker — defaults match each platform's official brand colour.

All social links open in a new tab with rel="noopener noreferrer" for security.

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9. Custom Buttons #

Two fully customisable buttons are available under the Custom tab. Use these for any URL — your store, booking page, directions, portfolio, or anything else.

Tip: If you are using the mobile bottom bar as a navigation bar, set one custom button's icon to Map/Location with a link to your Contact page, and another to Link for your main service page.

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10. Appearance Tab #

Select Position #

Choose where the bar appears on desktop and larger screens. Five options are available:

Mobile & Tablet Override #

Enable this toggle to show a full-width app-style bottom navigation bar on all screens ≤ 768 px — regardless of which desktop position you have selected. The bar uses a frosted glass surface, shows icon + label stacked, and includes safe-area padding for the iPhone home indicator.

Design recommendation: This layout looks best with 3–5 buttons. With more than 5 enabled buttons, icons become too small and labels get cut off. A typical setup is WhatsApp + Phone + 1–2 social links.

Content overlap: The bar sits over page content at the very bottom. If your theme has important content near the footer, add approximately 80 px of bottom padding to your page body (via your theme's custom CSS) so nothing is hidden behind the bar.

Dark Mode #

Controls the surface colour of Edge Panels and the Mobile Bottom Bar:

• Auto — Follows the visitor's OS/browser dark mode preference automatically.
• Always Light — White/frosted glass surface regardless of OS setting.
• Always Dark — Dark slate surface regardless of OS setting.

Note: Individual floating buttons keep their brand colours in all dark mode settings.

Button Style #

Applies to floating button positions (Float Right, Float Left, Bottom Row). Does not affect Edge Panel or Mobile Bottom Bar.

• Circle — Fully round buttons.
• Pill — Rounded rectangle with large radius.
• Square — Rectangular with subtle rounding.

Button Size #

• Small — 42 px
• Medium — 52 px (default)
• Large — 62 px

Offset & Effects #

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11. Visibility & Page Exclusions #

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12. Saving Settings #

Click the green Save Settings button in the sticky bar at the bottom of the admin page. You can also press Ctrl+S (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+S (Mac) from anywhere on the settings page.

A confirmation message will appear: "✓ Saved!". Changes take effect immediately on the frontend. If you use a caching plugin or CDN, clear its cache so visitors see the change.

The Licence tab has its own buttons and does not use Save Settings.

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13. Updates #

While your licence is Active, new versions appear like any other plugin update — in Dashboard → Updates and on the Plugins page. Click Update now, or enable WordPress auto-updates for AT-Float Bar.

• Your site checks for new versions a few times a day. To check immediately, click Re-validate on the Licence tab, then open Dashboard → Updates.
• Every update is downloaded directly from store.altechmind.com and its checksum is verified before installing. If the check fails, the update is cancelled and your current version stays untouched.
• Click View details on the Plugins page to read the changelog. The full changelog is also on the product page.
• When your updates window ends, no new versions are offered. Renew from your store account to resume updates.

Upgrading from 1.3.0: version 1.3.0 had an update-delivery bug. If you're on 1.3.0, install 1.3.1 once manually (download it from your Licenses page and upload it as in section 4). Updates are automatic from then on.

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14. Moving Your Licence to Another Site #

1. On the old site, go to Float Bar → Licence and click Deactivate. This releases the seat.
2. On the new site, install the plugin and activate the same key.

If the old site is no longer accessible, open a support ticket and we'll release the seat for you.

Staging sites: each activation counts toward your licence's site limit, including staging copies. Deactivate on staging when you're done testing, or contact us if you need a staging seat.

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15. Privacy — What the Plugin Sends #

From your visitors: nothing. The bar sets no cookies, loads nothing from third parties, and collects no analytics.

From your server to store.altechmind.com, only when activating, re-validating (about once a day), deactivating or checking for updates:

• Your licence key
• The product identifier (at-float-bar)
• Your site's URL
• A timestamp and a one-time random value (to secure the request)
• The installed plugin version and environment type (e.g. production or staging), to serve the right update

No personal data, user accounts, content or database contents are sent, and Altechmind cannot access your site through the plugin. Every request and response is signed and verified; if verification fails, the plugin treats the response as invalid and never blocks your site.

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16. Deactivation & Uninstallation #

Deactivation (Plugins → Deactivate) — All settings and your stored licence are preserved. Reactivating the plugin restores everything exactly as you left it.

Deletion (Plugins → Delete) — Permanently removes the plugin files and deletes its data from the WordPress database: bar settings (afb_settings), the stored licence (afb_license), the update cache and the daily licence check. This cannot be undone.

Important: deleting the plugin does not release your licence seat on the store. If you want to use the licence on another site, click Deactivate on the Licence tab before deleting the plugin.

If you plan to reinstall later, only deactivate the plugin — don't delete it — so your configuration is kept.

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17. Getting Support #

Support is included during your updates window. Check the FAQ & Troubleshooting guide first — most questions are answered there.

• Open a support ticket (sign in to your store account)
• Email: support@altechmind.com

Please include your WordPress version, PHP version, plugin version, your site URL, and any error messages (including browser console errors, if any).