How to use the role Divi editor on WordPress

by Blair Jersyer | Divi, WordPress Tutorials

Many customers are unfamiliar with WordPress and have never used a CMS before, giving them unlimited dashboard access is like asking a kid to fly a plane. There could be a lot of damage. They can spoil your design, or worse, break the entire site. Then it will be up to you to correct all of this. That's why it's best to get ahead of this disaster and take the time to define what your client can do on the site. This ensures that they can only access the places that are essential to them and nothing more.

Divi's role editor is a perfect solution for this. With its simple interface, you can easily turn permissions on and off for each of the roles, giving you power over what an account can and can't see on WordPress.

Today I'm going to show you how to set up user role permissions for a site that you can hand over to a customer. I know all clients are different, so take this as general practice.

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Let's start!

Overview of user roles

On WordPress, there are 5 different user roles. Here is a quick breakdown of each of the capabilities of the user roles:

  • Administrator - has access to everything. No limitation.
  • Editor - has access only to pages, all articles, all comments, all categories, all tags, and all links. Cannot access settings, plugins and hemes.
  • Author - Only has access to his own articles. This includes editing, photo uploading, and article posting.
  • Contributor – has access to edit his articles, but cannot publish.
  • Subscriber (follower) - able to receive updates and only has the ability to read and comment on articles and pages.

What can be understood from these user roles is that only two have the ability to make changes on all pages and articles, it is the administrator and the editor (Publisher). You probably don't want to risk giving your client the admin role. This gives them complete control over the site, including the ability to change settings, plugins and themes. A better option for a client would be the role of editor. That way, they won't change anything too important. Moreover, it simplifies the interface of WordPress. For example, look at the difference between the WordPress dashboard menu for admins and editors.

Here's the dashboard menu for administrators:

Wordpress administarteur dashboard

Here is the dashboard for users with the Editor role:

Wordpress editor dashboard

There are fewer options and less clutter on the dashboard. Your client will love this simplicity.

Assign the publisher role to your client

You can assign your client a new user role from the WordPress dashboard. Move towards " Users> Add ". Enter your customer information and select the role "Editor" as role.

Selection of editor role

How to customize editor roles on Divi

Although your client has an editor role with certain limitations on WordPress, the client still has access to all Divi options. This can become a problem if you don't want the customer to change your Divi settings. This is where the Divi role editor comes in handy.

The Divi Role Editor allows you to limit the capabilities of user roles for Divi specifically.

You can access the role editor in the WordPress dashboard under " Divi → Role Editor ».

Divi role editor

Note that you have four different roles you can choose to customize - "Administrator, Editor, Author, and Contributors". Subscriber is not listed here since this role has no editing capability by default.

Select the Publisher tab to modify role settings for publishers.

Editing the editor role for divi on wordpress

First actions: high level actions

High level divi wordpress action

Here is a brief overview of each of these options:

  • Divi Library - Provides access to registered templates and modules.
  • Split Testing - Provides access to activate and perform “split tests”
  • Page options - the options at the top right when editing page which allows you to access the navigation settings.
  • Portability - ability to import and export Divi layouts.

Since these are all the functions that the administrator normally uses, I suggest disabling all of these options for the Editor role of the client.

Disabling high level divi wordpress actions

Note: One possible exception, you can give access to the Divi library. This can be useful for clients who have been coached on how to use Divi models.

Interface Builder

The next row of options concerns the Interface Builder of Divi.

On this line, I suggest you disable all but two options - " Edit item " and " Use the Visual Builder ».

Divi options modification of the builder interface

This allows the client to modify what is already there without giving them the option to add or move everything contents. The result is a simplified interface that your customer will appreciate.

Here is an example screenshot of what Divi's Interface Builder looks like before changing the settings:

Modification of the divi builder interface

And here's a screenshot of the Builder Interface with the changes in place:

New interface builder modified divi

Note some options and buttons are hidden. Indeed, the high-level options and most of the Builder interface options have been disabled. The nice thing about this setup is that the customer is less overwhelmed with choices making it easy for them to change the contents.

Library Settings

The following section groups the Library Settings options. Since the Library Settings are already disabled, these options are disabled by default. (If you want to activate the library settings, but limit the features in the library settings, you can do it here.) Go ahead and turn them off so that there is no confusion.

Library setting

Tab settings

The next line includes the actions on the tabs. They control the parameters of each module and include three types: General settings, advanced settings and custom CSS.

I propose the following options for the Tab Settings section:

  • General settings: enable
  • Advanced settings: disable
  • Custom CSS: disable

I now suggest that general settings be enabled as this allows the customer to change the contents actual module such as headings, subheading, text, images, etc.

I suggest disabling advanced settings and custom CSS because that's where most of your design of your development is built. And a client could easily start making changes that will conflict with the overall design and layout of the site.

Now when your client clicks edit module settings, they won't see tabs: advanced settings or custom CSS. Also note that there is no option to save and add to library at the bottom left:

Changing the divi tab settings

Type Settings

The next line of role capabilities is the Type settings. The options of the types can be modified in the parameters of the module. The following options are available for the Settings section of the Types:

  • Change colors: Off
  • Edit content: On
  • Edit fonts: Off
  • Edit buttons: Off
  • Edit Layout: Off
  • Change configuration: Disabled

I suggest disabling everything except " Edit content ". limiting the client's ability to change colors, fonts and other items will help keep your design intact.

Parameters of wordpress divi types

Using the modules

The next section concerns the use of modules. These options give you the possibility to limit access to certain modules for certain users.

Configuration of divi modules

Portability

The last section is portability. This option controls access to all of the main Divi settings such as theme customization, options and layouts. I suggest disabling all of these latter options as well.

Portability divi configuration

That's all!

Don't forget to scroll to the top of the page and click on “Save Divi Roles” before you go.

You can now test the editor options to make sure everything works (or is hidden normally).

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