Kriesi.at – new media design

Frontend Admin Menu in Wordpress

Here is a short tutorial on how to create an additional Wordpress menu that only shows up if a user is logged in. I use this technique to create admin front end interface menus for the most used tasks: writing and editing posts and pages, editing the current post , a direct link to the "manage" Section of the Wordpress admin Interface etc.

Here are 2 screenshots of the right top of my header graphic. The first one is what everybody else sees.
And this is what I see as long as I am logged in:
This is easily done with the Wordpress function current_user_can()

As a parameter for the function you just have to add the expected user level and wrap the whole function call in an if statement.

<?php
        if (current_user_can('level_10')){
        /*do something*/
        }
?>

The /*do something*/ code would now only be added/executed if the user has a status of level 10, thus is an administrator. To get more information on User Levels check the Wordpress Documentation.
Here is a short list of the user capabilities, just in case you don't really care and only want to add a menue for a specific user group:

  • Subscriber : level_0
  • Contributor: level_1
  • Author: level_2
  • Editor: level_3 – level_7
  • Administrator: level_8 – level_10

Last but not least a short example of how an admin menu could look like:

<?php
    if (current_user_can('level_10')){ ?>
        <ul class="admin_box">
            <?php wp_register(); ?>
            <li><?php wp_loginout(); ?></li>
            <li><a href="<?php echo get_option('home'); ?>/wp-admin/post-new.php">Write new Post</a></li>
            <li><a href="<?php echo get_option('home'); ?>/wp-admin/page-new.php">Write new Page</a></li>
            <li>do something</li>
            <li>do something</li>
        </ul>
<?php }?>

Have fun creating your own user related menus ;)

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Responses to “Frontend Admin Menu in Wordpress”

  1. Prof Kienstra May 18th, 2008 at 6:24 pm

    Thanks for sharing! I'm in the proces of building a new theme for my weblog, and this is just something i'll implement. Great to get rid of the standard Meta information for everyone..

  2. Tom May 19th, 2008 at 9:47 am

    Good tip, it's a nice solution for clients that want to manage their site from the frontend.

  3. NetOperator Wibby May 20th, 2008 at 3:47 am

    hah, this is kind of cool. i was thinking about experimenting with Wordpress, it seems to be taking over the 'Net.

  4. Nathan Chapman May 22nd, 2008 at 8:22 am

    Ooh, very nice implementation of the idea.
    I've been wondering how to do this, now I know… thanks!

    Just found your blog, I like it :) Keep it up please.

  5. Delacro May 24th, 2008 at 5:04 am

    Very useful, thankyou!

  6. Erik Reagan June 6th, 2008 at 8:30 pm

    This is wonderful. I was thinking of how to achieve this for a client project and then I found your site. Thanks for the walk-through!

  7. tkins recipes September 27th, 2008 at 1:13 am

    I am also having a problem where I cannot change any of the settings from the admin panel. I want to disable icons and I am unable to do so.

  8. Alli October 18th, 2008 at 11:11 pm

    thanks for this! That was pretty simple!

  9. Ralph October 23rd, 2008 at 4:21 am

    This is great! Thanks so much for the information. I will definitely put this to use.

  10. hvdesigns November 1st, 2008 at 11:32 pm

    many thanks, helped me out loads
    great blog BTW

    :)

  11. hvdesigns November 9th, 2008 at 8:17 pm

    how would you go about hiding a page or post from unlogged in users?

  12. Aguas March 22nd, 2009 at 2:54 am

    Thanks, I was trying to find the solution looking in google in spanish, then in french, then I finally tried in english which is not (at all) my mother tongue, and found this wonderfull tip…
    How was saying this sensei I've forgot the name:
    "Less coding is better coding" <– have to read it with Indian accent to be precise…
    Muchisimas gracias amigo !!

  13. Jaun Millalonco July 1st, 2009 at 9:31 pm

    Just wanted to say great job with the blog, today is my first visit here and I've enjoyed reading your posts so far :)
    Juan

  14. Elpie July 15th, 2009 at 1:46 am

    Just a note for those reading this now – the user levels have been deprecated and the correct way to use the roles is by capabilities.

    eg. if ( current_user_can('manage_options') ) { do_something(); } or, eg. (current_user_can('switch_themes'))

    List of capabilities is on the WordPress Codex here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Roles_and_Capabilities#Capabilities

  15. Mkhululi August 7th, 2009 at 1:29 pm

    I tried the solution on a website I am working on. Here is a scenario :

    I put all the code inside my header file and inside the IF condition I have put the form just like in your demo. All users must be logged on to see the site.
    My ELSE part will be my entire page. The contents of the     header file, everything inside the wrapper and the end of the footer. I close the ELSE brace at the end of the footer.

    Problem: I am getting an error when I close the brace for the ELSE part of the IF statement.

    Here is a small snippet:

    if (condition){
    ///form goes here
    }else {
    //rest of the header file
    //wrapper opens here and closes at the end of the index file
    } // this is done at the end of the footer. But tells me there is an error

    What am I missing?

  16. Mkhululi August 7th, 2009 at 1:51 pm

    Sorry. Posting for a wrong tutorial…. this should go to the login demo tutorial…

  17. No_limits43 October 22nd, 2009 at 8:23 pm

    You can have up to ten text widgets. ,

Trackbacks

  1. Skylog » Blog Archive » links for 2008-05-20
  2. WordPress Studios » Admin login on your front page
  3. 在首页加入一些管理员链接 - Neversay
  4. WP Foundations » Admin login on your front page
  5. Test Track
  6. Added some menu functions | davidedwardsphotos.com
  7. links for 2009-07-02 | BlueWave Media

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