Support » Themes and Templates » Editing Back End Pages For “Authors” Only

  • I know WordPress by default has separate/simplified backend pages for “Author” or “Contributor” but I am wanting to edit these back end pages myself to really, really, simplify them for users but I’m not sure where to look for them, to edit them.

    I don’t want to remove features and options when I’m logged in as administrator you know, just for users logged in as author. I’m betting this isn’t going to be simple, I’m figuring that the code is mixed through out a lot of single lines and different files telling WordPress, if admin do this, if user do that. But if anybody has any quick insights or general direction for me, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • What your going to want to do is create a plugin[1] that uses WordPress filter and action hooks to remove features for people with particular user permissions. Here are some links for more info on this:

    1. http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API
    2. http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Filter_Reference
    3. http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Action_Reference
    4. http://codex.wordpress.org/Writing_a_Plugin
    5. http://codex.wordpress.org/Roles_and_Capabilities

    You might want to look into the Members plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/members/ It’s not going to help remove features directly, but it will help manage what particular users can do. Together with a plugin that assigns features to particular capabilities, you can get the results you want.

    Could you explain further what features you want to remove. It’s hard to describe what you should do if we don’t know what you really want the final product to look like. Removing some features or functionality is going to be easier or harder than others.

    Feel free to ask questions about anything you don’t understand or want guidance with, e.g. finding where code is located or hooks that can modify a particular feature.

    [1] Just to expand a little bit more just in case… In general it’s a bad idea to modify code that your not the author of, because updates to WordPress, themes, or plugins will over write your changes. The best bet is to separate modifications from the original code using extensions, such as a plugin.

    Thread Starter alanchrishughes

    (@alanchrishughes)

    Well I am a graphic designer and front end developer, but my boss always thinks that means I know everything there is about web design.

    They want to see if I can put together an obituary site where family members can log in, type out the obituary, and add photos or videos. I know quite a bit about editing front end wordpress pages and their functionality, so I thought it may work.

    Basically I want to strip everything from the backend pages accept the login/register page, which would take them directly to a simplified post page. Then a moderator or myself can log in to the regular (or a regular enough) backend site to approve or reject them.

    Besides the things I listed above, look into these:

    Basically your going to want to create a plugin that removes menu items and redirect users based on their capabilities. Then they register an account, give them the author role. It allows them to post articles and media, but hides a lot of the advanced features.

    If you want to give the back-end a different look, your may want to look up Creating Admin Themes and WordPress Enqueue.

    Thread Starter alanchrishughes

    (@alanchrishughes)

    Thanks for all your help, I don’t think this project is going to happen now however since my boss realized it would actually be a large project. I still plan on reading up on the links you posted. I’m actually surprised WordPress hasn’t created more out of the box back end customizations for things like this or clients in general who just aren’t very savvy.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • The topic ‘Editing Back End Pages For “Authors” Only’ is closed to new replies.