If you need to administer the access of different types of visitors and/or levels of access for your administrators, Groups is where you would go.

Groups performs two important functions for your site. The first page presents you with the ability to limit the access to the different modules based on the type of user visiting your site. You may want only registered users to access a module while anonymous users cannot. If your site doesn't require user registration, then these functions are not important.

The second important function is that of managing your administrators. Once you have added a new user to the Members module, you can then define which modules they can administrate by clicking the View Admins link.

Assigning Administrators

This is the most used of the two functions that the Groups module manages. With it, you can define which of your registered users can manage specified installed modules. This means that these users will have access to the administration options of this module just as you do.

One you are on the Groups administration page, click "View Admins". This page will display a list of the modules you have installed and that have administration options available.

Next to each listed module is an "Access" link. This link will allow you to assign the administrators to that module.

To the right of the access link is the number of current administrators assigned to that module.

Click Access to manage the administrators for that module. From the drop-down list, select the user you wish to add as an administrator for this module. If a user has already been assigned to this module, then their name will not appear in the drop-down list.

To delete a user from the administration of this module, click the delete link to the right of their username.

Groups / Page Access

The access that visitors have to your site can be controlled via this area of the Groups module. As mentioned at the start of this page, you can define they type of users that have access to each of your modules. An example would be to allow only registered users access your shopping system while everyone else cannot.

Users can be assigned any of 4 types. They can be anonymous which means they are not registered and not logged in. They can also be General registered users which is the common type of user who is in your database. Then you can specify users (from the Members module) that are of the other listed member types for various functions and permissions.

By adding a module under the listed user group, all member of that group and above that group will have access to that module. This means that if you add the Shop module to the General group, then General, Preferred and Preferred Plus members will all have access to this module, however anonymous members will not.