A role defines the permissions for users to perform a group of tasks.
Five roles exist by default in WordPress: Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, and Subscriber. Each role can perform a number of actions that are called “capabilities” in WordPress. Permission or user rights are synonymous with the term capability.
In order to ensure the proper functioning of a site and manage its security, user rights must be restricted based on user involvement.
The Subscriber Role
This is the role with the least amount of permissions. For example, a member of a club would have access to a part of the site that would be invisible to unregistered visitors. The only part of the site that a subscriber can modify is their profile page.
The Contributor role
The contributor may write posts, but has no control over publication. Once the article has been written, it will be submitted for proofreading by a user with more rights, who will decide whether or not it can be published.
This role does not have the right to add images, however it can add categories and tags via the post editing interface. You should therefore check what has been added before publishing
Once the article is online, the contributor will not be able to modify it. He can only read the comments under the posts he has written but cannot moderate them.
The Author role
It can publish posts and does not need approval to publish them. It can send files and enrich its contents with images. The author can also modify and delete his own publications.
On the other hand, he cannot intervene on the publications of other users. He can also moderate the comments found under his articles.
The Editor role
An editor has control over all editorial matters. He can publish pages, articles, but also edit and delete them, even if they were created by other users.
The editor can manage categories and tags, i.e. he can add, modify and delete them. He can also completely manage comments, and thus validate, moderate and delete them. The editor role corresponds to that of an editor-in-chief.
The Administrator role
This role is created automatically when you log in to your site administration for the first time. This role allows you to do everything on your site, from installing the theme and all the plugins, to setting up the site settings. This role should be reserved for the person who needs access to the whole site and should be protected by a good management for security reasons.
You can add users in the menu Users > Add New. It is also possible to customize the capabilities of a role using a plugin.
You can learn more about role management in this guide: How to manage users and roles in WordPress.
