Some users do not give many thoughts to the WordPress user roles, this could be because they are the only ones running the blog. However, this feature can be very useful if there are several people working on a blog. Depending on the person’s responsibilities, you can give a person specific permissions based on his role.
Why You Want To Use WordPress User Roles
A good example is – you start a WordPress blog and you want to get as much content as you can on this blog. So, you look for a writer on the Internet. And when you find one, you give him/her the password to your blog. This is risky, as the person may change the pass and basically hijack your blog.
To avoid a situation like this, WordPress user roles and permissions were invented. Permissions are capabilities of what a person can do on the blog. There are a default of up to 57 permissions given through 6 roles in WordPress.
WordPress User Roles & Permissions
Super Administrator
This role is the highest role and allows to do anything on the blog. This super administrator role is for a person who has a network of blogs and runs WordPress Multisite. This allows them to manage all the sites from one place.
They have control of the whole network and can access the network admin screen for managing different sites. They can change themes and settings for all the sites on the network and also add new sites. This role is best for owners of the sites, chief editors, and webmasters.
Administrator
On a single WordPress blog this role is similar to the Super Administrator. They can do anything they wish to the blog, since there is no need for networking or the Super Administrator role.
However, on a network of sites, administrator is the second highest role with the most permissions.
They have a number of capabilities, like deleting pages (both published and private), plugins, posts, and users, editing the dashboard, files, pages, posts, and themes. Administrators can also manage categories, links, and options as well as moderate comments and promote users. Finally, they can publish and read private pages and switch themes or upload files.
There are a few things that only administrators on single sites can do, like updating the WordPress core, plugins, and themes or install, delete, and edit themes and plugins.
Editor
Editors are one step down from the administrators. They deal with just mostly the content. Some of their permissions are creating and editing content, moderating and replying to comments, and editing categories and links.
They are also allowed to delete others’ pages and posts, publish pages and posts, plus upload files.
Author
This is appropriate for a person who creates content for a site. This gives them permission to publish and manage the content they add to the website. However, they cannot edit or delete any other person’s post or page on the website. They do have the ability to upload files to the website.
Contributor
A contributor can only submit their content. They cannot publish their content on the blog, only a person with a higher role can publish the content after they have reviewed it.
This is a good role to give to a one time guest post. If you know and trust them, you could give them an author or editor role.
Subscriber
This is sometimes referred to as a follower. They cannot do anything to the site, and must first be registered. They will receive updates when the website is updated with new content. You can also allow them to see private posts and pages if you choose.
The above can help you see the advantages of using WordPress user roles. If it would be appropriate to the goals of your website, you can migrate your website to WordPress without any hassle by using aisite. This is a web service that automates your move and saves you a great deal of time and effort.
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