2010-08-09, 09:11 AM
Hey guys,
permissions are always a tricky thing and I've yet not seen many bulletins that act very clever regarding permissions. Also in mybb there could be one or another improvement.
I've thought about it for a while and one of the main aspects bugging me in any bulletin is the so called group default. In almost any bulletin you can only set default permissions for groups in a very limited way. You unfortunately cannot declare default permissions for each section but only globally for the whole forum.
My idea is the following:
To have an easy to use permission set up you can whenever creating a new group or adjusting an existing one edit it's permissions for all sections existing.
Those are default permissions, whenever creating a new section those permissions are not being overwritten for the sections you applied them to - and by default no group (except administrators) has any permissions for a new section. This is where the already existing permission editor comes in. Creating a new forum allows you either to inherit parent permissions, if they exist, copy permissions from another already existing section or define them as you wish (just as it is now).
The difference is less confusion when setting up forums, seeing you could disregard group default permissions. This box could actually disappear then, as it would lose it's necessity.
Being in multiple groups, of each group the permissions are combined with a logical OR (if not a banned group). Banned groups are on top of the hierarchy, overwriting anything and disallowing all access.
For an example I'll take the current permission editor when creating a new forum.
Above the editor itself you have 2 dialog options: Copy permissions from ... and a drop down menu with all existing sections / forums, no forum select by default.
If a parent forum is existing, it will inherit those permissions and autocheck the boxes in the editor.
If you however select a forum in the "Copy permissions from" dialog, set permissions in the permission editor are being ignored.
I hope it doesn't sound too confusing, it might be as this is easier to discribe using graphics. If you want me to, I'll make a small diagram to show what I mean.
Another very important one:
When editing a section having subforums you can choose to apply those permissions to all subforums in this section.
Advantages:
* less confusion about default permissions one might not be always aware of
* easy to use and quick set up - you only have to declare permissions for a group once and then can fully concentrate on that when creating forums - however you can also always edit permissions selecting a group - that means less work and more efficiency as it's reacting on your needs
* permissions can easily be copied, adjusted and redefined as you have all necessary options in just two dialogs (the drop down menu and the permission editor)
* groups can easily be set up and administrated, as you do not need to give additional groups same permissions, but can keep all main users in the "normal" registered group and only declare additional permissions to new groups you create for sections not being public (no need to have the same permissions more than once in several groups)
* all in all more overview
I hope I didn't bore you, it's lots of text, I'll add some graphics to it later on to spice it up a lil.
permissions are always a tricky thing and I've yet not seen many bulletins that act very clever regarding permissions. Also in mybb there could be one or another improvement.
I've thought about it for a while and one of the main aspects bugging me in any bulletin is the so called group default. In almost any bulletin you can only set default permissions for groups in a very limited way. You unfortunately cannot declare default permissions for each section but only globally for the whole forum.
My idea is the following:
To have an easy to use permission set up you can whenever creating a new group or adjusting an existing one edit it's permissions for all sections existing.
Those are default permissions, whenever creating a new section those permissions are not being overwritten for the sections you applied them to - and by default no group (except administrators) has any permissions for a new section. This is where the already existing permission editor comes in. Creating a new forum allows you either to inherit parent permissions, if they exist, copy permissions from another already existing section or define them as you wish (just as it is now).
The difference is less confusion when setting up forums, seeing you could disregard group default permissions. This box could actually disappear then, as it would lose it's necessity.
Being in multiple groups, of each group the permissions are combined with a logical OR (if not a banned group). Banned groups are on top of the hierarchy, overwriting anything and disallowing all access.
For an example I'll take the current permission editor when creating a new forum.
Above the editor itself you have 2 dialog options: Copy permissions from ... and a drop down menu with all existing sections / forums, no forum select by default.
If a parent forum is existing, it will inherit those permissions and autocheck the boxes in the editor.
If you however select a forum in the "Copy permissions from" dialog, set permissions in the permission editor are being ignored.
I hope it doesn't sound too confusing, it might be as this is easier to discribe using graphics. If you want me to, I'll make a small diagram to show what I mean.
Another very important one:
When editing a section having subforums you can choose to apply those permissions to all subforums in this section.
Advantages:
* less confusion about default permissions one might not be always aware of
* easy to use and quick set up - you only have to declare permissions for a group once and then can fully concentrate on that when creating forums - however you can also always edit permissions selecting a group - that means less work and more efficiency as it's reacting on your needs
* permissions can easily be copied, adjusted and redefined as you have all necessary options in just two dialogs (the drop down menu and the permission editor)
* groups can easily be set up and administrated, as you do not need to give additional groups same permissions, but can keep all main users in the "normal" registered group and only declare additional permissions to new groups you create for sections not being public (no need to have the same permissions more than once in several groups)
* all in all more overview
I hope I didn't bore you, it's lots of text, I'll add some graphics to it later on to spice it up a lil.