Business web sites and personal blogs will normally have just one login or user. However, multi-user blogs or companies who wish to assign responsibility for certain areas of the site to different members of a team may choose to have more than one user.
In this case, the Admin would be the member with the most authority, or the site manager. An Admin has full access to the back-end of the site and can change the themes, edit theme and plugin files, switch out widgets, and more, as well as post articles and create new pages.
The Editor’s permissions are slightly less than an Admin. An Editor can’t change theme or plugin files, or select a new theme, but is authorized to create new pages and posts and to review and make live posts submitted by Authors and Contributors, and can also add links to a blog roll. Basically, an Editor has full content related permissions.
An Author may create and publish their own posts, but can not add to the blogroll, create new categories, or edit anyone else’s posts. They also have permissions to moderate, edit, and publish comments left on their own posts.
A Contributor may login and create a post, but can’t publish it to the site. When a Contributor has finished his or her post, he will submit it for review and it will be checked and then scheduled or published by an Admin or Editor.
Subscribers are readers or visitors who get a login to your WordPress site, but they only have access to their own profile. The benefit for the subscriber is that once logged in, WP recognizes the user and automatically fills in the name, email address, and url when the user submits a comment. Some blogs require a user to register and become a subscriber before posting comments. However, most site owners prefer to turn off this requirement by visiting the Settings/Discussion tab of the WP Admin Dashboard. The site Admin may also turn off the subscription feature altogether by visiting the Settings/General tab and un-checking the “anyone may register” box.
For a nice audio/visual description of WordPress user rolls, watch this training video.
You are reading Wordpress Glossary for Beginners Read more from this series of articles.
- Defining Wordpress Terms, Part 1 - A Glossary for Beginners
- Defining Wordpress Terms, Part 2 – Categories vs. Tags
- Defining Wordpress Terms, Part 3 - Wordpress Author or User Roles Explained
- Defining Wordpress Terms, Part 4 - Publishing
- Defining Wordpress Terms, Part 5 - Plugins and Widgets
- Defining Wordpress Terms, Part 5 - Plugins and Widgets
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Gordie Rogers, Patty Reiser. Patty Reiser said: WordPress Author or User Roles Explained http://rt.nu/vsy3np (via. @EricaMueller) [...]
I am still unsure about the distinction between 'USER' and 'VISITOR ADDING A COMMENT' for WordPress.
If the REGISTER TO COMMENT feature is Turned Off, are those requesting Subscription or Notice of new posts Users?
Financial impact is considerable for a policy study blog.
Please reply by e-mail.
This will determine whether I begin WordPress or no.
The lowest registered user has the ability to login, but can do nothing more than have a profile and post comments. The only reason for this user group is if you wish to only allow registered users to comment.
If everyone is allowed to comment, then there is no reason for people to register, as the comment form is open to the public.
Rss feeds for subscription to post or comments are always public unless you have removed the tags from your header.php file.
If this is not clear, let me know! I'd be happy to write a full post about, answering the question!
Erica
– Sent from my Palm Pre
[...] titles, you can customize membership levels, assign community managers and privacy based on the WordPress user permissions. WordPress’s threaded comment system also makes for a nice community addition, or even a base [...]