This article will help explain some of the key concepts and terms used within the blueBlocks Members module.
Members
Members are the customers, employees or users that sign-in to the website. It is important to remember that until a user signs-in, they are unknown or anonymous. Depending on your requirements, you may want some pages to be "public" - that is visible to all visitors, whether they are signed-in or not. Other pages might be reserved for key users or simply require that the user is a valid and authenticated member. An obvious example of this is the administration area of your website where your site settings are managed... you wouldn't want these to be public!
Roles
There is a distinct difference between anonymous visitors and members, but depending on your requirements, you are unlikely to want all members to have the same privileges. This is where "roles" come into play. Firstly, it is important to understand that a member can belong to one or more roles, or none at all. By default your website will have two roles already set-up; "Content Editor" and "System Administrator", and as a key administrator for the website you are likely to be assigned to both. These roles should not be changed and are used in many of the control libraries. If a user is assigned to the "Content Editor" role, they will have permission to add/edit/delete page items. The "System Administrator" role provides the user with access to the pages within the admin area - for the purposes of managing the site settings and other users. The roles that a member is assigned to can be managed via the admin area of the website and you can set-up as many roles as you like.