Drupal Basics: Be a Role Model

by Jamar Bibbs

In our previous articles, we've shown you how to install Drupal on your web server, we've shown you what Modules are and what they can do for you, and we've discussed how you can change the look and feel of your site using Themes. This week we're going to delve into Roles, and how you can use them to create limitations and extra priveleges for your site's users.

By default, Drupal creates two Roles upon installation: anonymous user and authenticated user. The anonymous user role is just that--when a user visits your site and they have not registered, or are not logged in, they are limited to anonymous user status and the restrictions that are associated with that role. They may not see all the menus, or use many or none of the features of your site--that is, until they log in. Once they are logged in, they assume the Role of authenticated user, and gain all the priveleges associated with being a logged in, i.e. authenticated user. They may be able to user more or all of the features of your site, they may be presented with a different theme or menu, and they may have access to do things like upload images, create blogs, or post comments on other stories.

You may wonder why Drupal provides you with the ability to create additional roles. First, you may want to create different user roles for your site, such as Artists, Fans and Subscribers. You may wish for your Artist members to be able to upload audio tracks of their own music, along with videos of themselves. You may also want your Fan members to be able to listen to those music tracks, and view those videos, and perhaps comment on them, but not allow them to upload audio or videos themselves. Then you may wish to allow members from either group to become a subscriber, (perhaps using the Paypal module), and those members would have additional features available to them, such as access to Artists personal blogs, or exclusive access to their latest releases, concert news, etc.

Drupal makes that all easy. You just go to Administer -> User Management -> Roles, and at the bottom of the list of current Roles, you type in the name of the new Role, such as Artist, and click the Add Role button. You will then be taken back to the Role page, where you can click the Edit link, which allows you to change the permissions for your new Role (i.e. grant the new role specific permissions, such as the ability to upload images, etc.).

Role Permissions also enable you to allow, or disallow, specific Roles to edit their own entries, or perhaps the Role is an admin of sorts, and you can enable that Role to edit not only their own content, but content that has been submitted by other Roles or you could even provide them with the same permissions that you, as admin, have from default.

Another additional benefit of using Roles is that you can create content of just about any sort (Book, Story, Blog, Audio, Video, Image, you name it), and enable that content to be seen, or not seen, based on the Role of the member that is on the site. So all of the Artists on our site would see a message from the site's admin telling them about a new feature available to all Artists, while Fans would see an altogether different message, and Subscribers could not only be presented with a different message, but they could be viewing the site that uses a different Theme that other users are seeing, with a different layout, different sections, different options. Very nice!

There is a very nice little video on Creating Roles that comes from an excellent site for Drupal aficionados that is appropriately called Drupal Dude.

Now you have set up your first Drupal installation, you've added and enabled some Modules, added and enabled your site's Themes, and you've created some Roles and set specific permissions! Next time we're going to show you how to enable your site's members to upload audio and videos to your site, including videos from YouTube and Google!

Core Modules

Drupal Basics