WordPress for Toastmasters*One of the questions I’m getting the most from the people getting started with WordPress for Toastmasters is, “How do I add another administrator?” WordPress provides a flexible system for assigning users different roles including editor and author as well as administrator. Here is how that works on the WordPress for Toastmasters site.
When you add a member, by default that person is given a user account at the “Subscriber” level, meaning they can access members-only features (such as signing up for roles at a meeting) but cannot add to or edit website content.
When a subscriber is logged in and accesses the WordPress Dashboard, they see a much simpler version than you would see as a site administrator. A subscriber can update his or her own profile (name, contact information, profile picture) and view performance reports as a sort of scoreboard for how different members are doing in their progress toward educational awards like CC and CL.
Subscriber is the most basic of the security levels built into WordPress. The others are:
- Contributor: can submit blog posts for approval by an editor.
- Author: can submit and publish blog posts but cannot edit pages or anyone else’s blog posts. If you have a good writer or photographer in your club, you might want to give them author rights.
- Editor: can edit pages, posts, and events.
- Administrator: can change the basic settings of the website, such as the theme (design) and optional software plugins that are enabled. Can add or edit user accounts.
I’ve added an additional role, Officer, which combines all the editor rights with the ability to add and edit user accounts (members).
Here is what the Dashboard looks like to an Officer:
After adding or importing your membership list, you can designate your officers on the Settings -> Toastmasters screen, and those individuals will automatically be assigned Officer security rights by default. (As an administrator, you have the power to promote or demote them as appropriate).
You may also want to manually designate members of the club who should have additional privileges as a contributor, author or editor. From the User listing, position your mouse under one of the names shown and click Edit.
Select the appropriate role from the drop-down list and save your changes.
