Question

I am making a website for my college in which students will have to register and then can log-in and have their own profile. This would mean maintaining database with multiple usernames, passwords and other data. Students would be able to form groups, communities and ask questions to others.

How can WordPress be useful in developing a website like this? Are there other good WP tutorials?

I have already installed WP and am going through its Lessons, but it seems to be all about one user (admin) writing his own blog and controlling the posts/comments of others. The other users don’t seem to be logged in. (Maybe I missed the lesson on multi-user login as I have just started a day back).

Thanks

Answer 1

Default capabilities

WordPress has multi-user support built-in. You can add as many accounts to your site as you wish. There are different types of accounts, differing in what a user can do:

• Super Admin – Someone with access to the blog network
  administration features controlling the entire network (See Create a
  Network).
• Administrator – Somebody who has access to all the
  administration features
• Editor – Somebody who can publish and
  manage posts and pages as well as manage other users’ posts, etc.
• Author – Somebody who can publish and manage their own posts
• Contributor – Somebody who can write and manage their posts but not
  publish them
• Subscriber – Somebody who can only manage their
  profile

You don’t need to set up all users manually, but allow people to sign up themselves, limited to a certain account type (e.g. let them only create subscriber accounts with limited access).

Plugin: Buddypress

There the Buddypress Plugin for WordPress. It extends WordPress to be more like a social network.

What can I use BuddyPress for?

BuddyPress is built to bring people together. It works well to enable
people with similar interests to connect and communicate. Some of the
fantastic uses might be:

• A campus wide social network for your university, school or college.
• An internal communication tool for your company.
• A niche social network for your interest topic.
• A focused social network for your new product.

This sounds like a good way to go if you’re just getting started with WordPress development.