Introduction #
IMPORTANT NOTE: This section discusses changes that can be made to the WordPress settings. Please do not change any option, other than those discussed. Selecting the incorrect option may result in your site becoming inaccessible.
The WordPress Dashboard is the control panel and main user interface for the WordPress installation and has two main functions:
- Access the tasks, including editing pages and posts, adding or deleting users, or modifying menus.
- To provide system information, including Site Health, Activity and Analytics.
The Dashboard #
After logging in, the main SiteWorks Dashboard screen will be displayed. If you are an Administrator, the Dashboard appears as follows:
The screen contains three areas:
- A: The WordPress administrative toolbar, contains the website name, a New option to quickly add material to your site, including pages, events, notices, Dashboard configuration, access to WordPress help, and logout.
- B: The main Dashboard options menu, B, allows you to undertake all tasks required to manage the site, as shown below.
- C: The main information display.
Information widgets #
The information widgets include the following, not all may be visible due to a user’s role and/or the configuration set by the site administrator.:
- Site Health: provides the status of your plugins and the site.
- At a Glance: Details and statistics relating to the site.
- Activity: Number of posts and comments if used.
- Analytics: Give an insight into the site views and visitors over the last 30 days.
- u3a Specific information: provides information relating to SiteWorks, with a direct link to the User Guides
Access Rights #
WordPress users are assigned Roles, of which there are five available,
- Administrator: Full access right to all content and configuration tools.
- Editor: Full access rights to all content tools.
- Author: Restricted access to content tools.
- Contributor: This can be set, but no right can be granted within SiteWorks.
- Subscriber: This can be set, but no right can be granted within SiteWorks.
The Dashboard menu options available to users are summarised below, these are dependent on the role given to a user, and not all options are available to every user, this is discussed further in the User Management guide and the guides associated with specific activities (e.g. editing events or pages).
| Menu Option | Function | Administrator | Editor | Author |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dashboard | Return to the Home Dashboard view | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Posts | Options relating to post(s) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Media | Access to the Media Library | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Pages | Options relating to page(s) | ✔ | ✔ | |
| u3a Groups | Options relating to group(s) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| u3a Events | Options relating to event(s) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| u3a Venues | Options relating to venue(s) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| u3a Contacts | Options relating to contact(s) | ✔ | ✔ | |
| u3a Notices | Options relating to notice(s) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Profile | Edit personal profile | ✔ | ✔ | |
| u3a Settings | Configure the u3a setting, add a dashboard notice and enter maintenance mode | ✔ | ||
| u3a Import Export | u3a import export toll for starter sites | ✔ | ||
| Appearance | Edit themes (not required by a u3a) or access the Site Editor. | ✔ | ||
| Plugin | Acess to all the third-party and WordPress Plugins installed. | ✔ | ||
| Users | Options to create, edit or delete a user(s) | ✔1 | ||
| Tools | WordPress tools. These are not used in the SiteWorks environment. | ✔ | ||
| Analytics | Provides access to the site’s analytics. | ✔ | ||
| Settings | WordPress settings | ✔ | ||
| Loginzer Security | Configuring the Loginzer Security Plugin | ✔ | ||
| Collapse Menu | Option to hide the menu text, the icons are still visible. | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
WordPress Settings #
IMPORTANT NOTE: Administrators have full access to all the regular WordPress settings. However, Administrators will unlikely need to alter any preconfigured settings.
The following General settings MUST NOT BE CHANGED. Any changes will result in significant technical issues.
- the WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL)
- the WordPress administrator’s email address. This cannot be changed if the site is hosted via the u3a.
- the default time zone (this is preset to London)
- the “Anyone can register” setting MUST NOT BE SELECTED. If selected anyone can self-register as a site user. A registration page becomes available allowing anyone to create a user account for themselves.
- for additional security, the default role for a new user must be set to “Subscriber”. A “Subscriber” has no SiteWorks privileges, so the Website Administrator can review subscribers and decide whether or not to give them additional privileges on the site.
The combination of selecting the “Anyone can register” and the default role of “Author” for self-subscribed users will introduce a major security issue.
The following General settings can be changed:
- The Tag line
- The Icon that appears on the Browser tab and as a bookmark, as discussed here.
The following Writing settings must not be changed:
- Post via email should not be set up for reasons of security
The following Reading settings must not be changed:
- Your homepage displays option sets the page used for the site’s home page and must be set to the required static page. The Home page can be changed if needed, the process is discussed here.
Discussion settings must not be changed
Media settings must not be changed
Permalinks settings must not be changed
Meta Field Block provides information on the use of the Meta Field Block. The core API allows the advanced user to display custom fields in posts etc.
Imsanity settings must not be changed, however, the plugin can resize images if required.
Gutenslider provides a tutorial on the Gutenslider plugin.
LiteSpeed Cache settings must not be changed
