User Groups and Access Control:

Joomla has two main hierarchies for User Groups: one for access to the Front-end (so users can log in to the web site and view designated sections and pages) and one for Back-end Administration access.

The default groups provided are:

Public Front-end
| ---- Registered
| -------- Author
| ------------- Editor
| ------------------- Publisher

Administrator Back-end
| ------- Manager
| ------------- Administrator
| ------------------- Super Administrator


Registered Group:

These Users are able to login to the Front-end web site. Additional information (sections and pages) may be available to a user once logged in. In general, access provided to a parent group (like Registered) is inherited by the child groups (like Author) unless specifically denied by the Super Administrator.


Author Group:

These Users are given access to submit new content and edit their own content items/pages by logging into the Front-end.

Editor Group:

These Users are given access to submit and edit any content by logging into the Front-end.

Publishers Group:

These Users are given access to submit, edit and publish any content by logging into the Front-end.

For information on the Administration user groups, see the section on Administrator Login . Content items, menu items, modules and components can be assigned an access control parameter. At this stage there are only two available: Public and Registered. This means that anything assigned with Public access can be viewed or accessed by the anonymous web visitor. Anything assigned with Registered access can be view or accessed by anyone who has logged into the web site in the Front-end and is one of the following types of Registered users: Author, Editor or Publisher.

============ Note: these two sections (above and below)  will be combined to make one chapter.

User Manager:
The User Manager allows you to add, edit and delete users.

New User:
There are two ways that Users can be created on your site. Your visitors can create their own account by registering via your Login Form, or you can add your own Users if you want a selected group to visit your site or selected content pages.

User Groups:
The groups available are fixed but have different levels of access control. The 'Public Front-end' and 'Public Back-end' groups are merely placeholders at this stage. They do not contribute to the access control system except that in the future, they will define the default access levels for anonymous users in the Front-end and Back-end systems.

There are four (4) Front-end groups available:
Registered - This group allows the user to login to the Front-end interface.

Author - This group allows a user to post content, usually via a link in the User Menu.

Editor - This group allows a user to post and edit any content item from the Front-end.

Publisher - This group allows a user to post, edit and publish any content item from the Front-end.

To learn how to manage, add and edit your registered User list, click this Help Screen link.

  User Manager: Add and Edit Users

When the visitor submit the registration request the account is created but user can not login until activated. An E-mail with the activation link is sent to the Email address provided by the visitor. When the mail is received, the user will click the activation link, the account will be activated and the user will now be able to log in.

This feature has several advantages:
It verifies that visitor exists and has a valid E-mail address.

• It gives the user the ability to choose their password at registration.
• It gives the Site Administrator a better overview of activated and non-activated accounts. A non-activated account will appear as blocked and never signed in. As such it is easy to track and delete.
• It gives the Administrator a better overview of activated and non-activated accounts. A non-activated account will appear as blocked and never signed in. As such it is easy to track and delete.
  

The option for Registration Activation is found in Global Configuration under the Site tab. See the option for “Use New Account Activation."  If you disable user activation, visitors will be able to login immediately after they created an account.

There is also an option called “Require Unique Email."  When enabled, this option will assure that a single E-mail address can be registered only once.

The Special User Parameter:
Any user created as Author, Editor, Publisher, Manager, Administrator or Super Administrator is considered a Special User.

The administrator has given them access to submit news, articles, FAQ's and Web Links.
These Special Users are the only ones able to access to an item with the 'Special' access parameter. Special users are the only ones to see on screen menu items or entire menus with the 'Special' access parameter.

It is especially useful when publishing the User Menu Module. The entire module may be hidden from any 'Public' or 'Registered' user by specifying its access as 'Special'.
To configure this, go to the Administrator Menu (which is the admin control panel) and choose Modules on the menu bar, then click 'Site Modules.'  Then double click 'User Menu' to edit.  Now choose access level: 'Special'

You could also decide to have only some items of the User Module configured with the 'Special' access. A 'Registered' user may have access to the 'Details' menu item but not to the 'Submit News', 'Submit Web Link?' or 'Check-in My Items' menu items.

In order to get this result, the User Menu Module should be configured with a 'Registered' access level and the specific menu items with the 'Special' access level.

In order to configure the menu items of the User Menu, go to the Administrator Menu and choose Menu on the menu bar, click 'User Menu'. Specify for each item the access level desired.

The result of this last configuration will be that only users whom you have defined as 'Special' can see the related Menu Items and submit from the Front-end, while 'Registered' users may have access to their 'Details' only and 'Public' users may not see the menu at all.

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Note: I am looking for someone to help rewrite, edit and proof-read this chapter. 

For more information, please visit the doc forum.