Using the backend of WordPress is great for veterans. However, if you're new to this powerful CMS, there is quite a learning curve.

Most average users will spend their time in the posts and pages section. Without knowledge of the other sections, a user may switch themes, disable a plugin or do something else without even realizing it.

Making WordPress more client-friendly can keep the unnecessary mistakes to a minimum. Here are a few ways to make WordPress easier for your users.
<h2>Set Roles with Restrictions</h2>
The first step to making WordPress easier for your users and giving yourself a bit of peace-of-mind is creating roles and restrictions. Each user can be put into a category, such as Editor, Author, Contributor or Subscriber. Make sure you are set at the Administrator.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7801" src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/UserRoles.png" alt="User Roles" width="1022" height="384" />

You can get your hand dirty and code in the restrictions or you can use the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/press-permit-core/">Press Permit Core Plugin</a>. This plugin will allow you to easily set permissions for each role.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7802" src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/PressPermitCorePlugin.png" alt="Press Permit Core Plugin" width="742" height="232" />

By limiting roles, you can take away some of the menu items users don't need, such as plugins, appearance and settings. This can easily eliminate some of the potential changes they could accidentally make to your WordPress website.

Many other things within the WordPress dashboard can be changed to ensure your users only have access to the necessary areas. The Press Permit Core plugin will allow you to do many different things. Once you have installed it, you can access the plugin by going to the new menu option called "Permissions".

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7803" src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Permissions.png" alt="Permissions" width="163" height="181" />

This section will allow you to create groups for your users. The plugin comes with eight default groups and will put your users into some of the groups automatically, if you have given them a role already. You can easily edit these groups and add your own to customize the different roles.

For example, if you want your authors to only have access to the posts and pages sections, you can edit the [WP Author] group to add the role of author on pages and posts.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7804" src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/SupplementalRoles.png" alt="Supplemental Roles" width="306" height="185" />

The Press Permit Core Plugin also provides a Pro upgrade option. This option will allow you to assign custom roles, customize the reading and editing permissions per post and per category and many other features. The pro upgrade ranges in price depending on how many sites you want to use it on. With this upgrade, you will have a new level of control over what your users will be able to access.

Setting up a new group will allow you to customize the roles of your users. You can give specific users access to specific plugins, features and sections of the WordPress website. Just click the "Add New" option under "Permissions" and create a name for the group. You can also add a description.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7805" src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/AddNewGroup.png" alt="Add New Group" width="705" height="88" />

Once you have created the group, you will be able to add users to the group and give them roles.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7806" src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/AddUsersAndRoles.png" alt="Add Users And Roles" width="708" height="554" />

Without the Press Permit Core plugin, you will need to code all of the different roles for users. This can be quite time consuming. Using the plugin will save you time and it's worth the small cost to upgrade for all the pro features.
<h2>Disabling Plugin and Theme Editing</h2>
With a very short snippet of code, you can actually keep users from editing the theme or plugins on your website. This is easily done by accessing the wp-config.php file found within your cPanel. Just add the following code to this file.

define( 'DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true );

Once this code is added, it will hide the menu entry for editing the theme or plugins. Even if the user knows the URL for this entry, they won't be able to make changes.

With the Press Permit Core plugin and this very small change to the coding of your WordPress website, you will be able to limit the access of users on your WordPress website. This is very helpful for sites with multiple users and for those providing access to clients, such as web designers and SEO companies.

Whether you just want to limit a few users or assign roles to all of your users, you can do so with the right plugin and a little bit of coding. You will be able to eliminate the accidental mistakes that could cost your client more money and you more time.