What are user groups and access levels?
User groups say who someone is (Registered, Editor…); access levels say which groups can see something. Permissions say what a group may do.
Three different ideas
Joomla separates who someone is (user groups), what they can see (access levels) and what they can do (permissions). Once you keep those three apart, member areas and editor roles are easy.
User groups: who
- Joomla has nine default groups: Public, Guest, Registered, Author, Editor, Publisher, Manager, Administrator and Super Users.
- Groups are nested: a child group inherits its parent's permissions. Manage them in Users → Groups.
Access levels: what they can see
- Default levels: Public (everyone), Guest (only visitors who aren't logged in), Registered (logged-in users), Special (authors and up), Super Users.
- Every article, category, module and menu item has an Access field with one of these levels. Manage them in Users → Access Levels.
Permissions: what they can do
- Create, edit, publish, delete, log in to the administrator… set globally in Global Configuration → Permissions, and per component, category or article.
Good to know
- For a custom audience (say, "Members"), create a group, create an access level that includes it, and use that level on your content.
Sources
- Access Control – Joomla User Guide
