Visibility of Posts and Pages

ISUComm Sites allows you to control who can see what posts and pages on an individual basis. Using the Visibility settings, you can control access to each post or page. More information about visibility can be found in the Codex article Content Visibility.

What is Visibility?

Visibility is all about who can see what content and under what circumstances. By default, all posts and pages are visible, which means that your fellow ISUComm Sites users can view them as normal, simply by visiting the URL or following a link.

publish_menu
Publish panel, with visibility options shown.

How Can I Control Visibility?

You can control page and post visibility from the Publish panel (which always appears in the upper left whenever you edit a page or post, in a sidebar near the content editor, as shown in the screenshot).

There are three standard settings: Public, Password Protected, and Private. Clicking the “Edit” link next to the setting allows you to configure visibility in the following ways.

Public: This is the standard setting and in the context of ISUComm Sites it means that anyone with a user account (i.e. other students and instructors) can view the page simply by visiting the URL. Users without an ISUComm Sites account cannot access the page or post.

Password Protected: This is a secure setting that allows you protect a page so that only those with the password can view it. When you select this setting, you will be prompted to pick a password which you can then give to the people you choose. When such users try to visit the page, they will be prompted to enter the password before being allowed onward.

Private: This is the most secure setting, and it prevents any user from viewing the content (except you).

“WARNING: If your site has multiple editors or administrators, they will be able to see your protected and private posts in the Edit panel. They do not need the password to be able to see your protected posts. They can see the private posts in the Edit posts/Pages list, and are able to modify them, or even make them public. Consider these consequences before making such posts in such a multiple-user environment.” –from the WordPress Codex.