Joomla 2.5 end-user series

4. An overview of the different user types in Joomla

This tutorial assumes you have already logged into the Joomla website

By default there are four user groups in Joomla: Registered, Author, Editor and Publisher.  Each group allows certain access to parts of the Joomla interface

We are currently logged in using an account with Editor access

Registered users cannot edit articles, Authors can create and edit their own articles, Editors can create and edit other users articles, and Publishers can do all of the above in addition to being able to change publishing status, start and end dates for any article

Scroll down and notice that the articles are displayed with icons for editing each individual article or to denote an article is currently locked

1) Let's select an article to edit by clicking on the edit icon for that article

Now scroll down to access all the editing tools for the current article

Logged in as a user with Editor access, you can edit other peoples articles, but you do not have access to change the publishing status of articles. Only Category, Author's Alias and the access level for the current article

If we log out as an Editor and login as a Publisher, we can see the additional available options presented to us

Logged in as a Publisher, we can now change the Status of individual articles from Published to Unpublished or visa versa, establish Start or Finish Publishing dates, as well as all other editing features

Now you have an overview of the different types of users in Joomla