Jan 23, 2013

Updated Privileges for OnePortal User Interface

A number of updates have been made to OnePortal we think you’ll appreciate. If you have multiple users on your account, we recommend that you check your privileges at your earliest convenience. There are new privileges to be utilized, and the ways that they default have had some minor tweaks. Good news though, the user interface for managing them has been greatly improved.

Most feature requests we receive are great and usually rather well thought out. One highly requested feature is privileges per-server. This was actually implemented two years ago. However, we still receive feature requests for it because no one knows where they can access them. To combat this, our privilege system’s management has been overhauled, with server based privileges now manageable from it. With account and server privileges in the same location, we've also changed how we organize the page, making the process of granting them as painless as possible. Instead of displaying each in a large list, they have been split into chunks. The descriptions were then reworked to be clearer.

It’s a good thing we’ve made our privilege management simpler, as the number of privileges have doubled, giving you even more control over your account. Some of the more notable include restrictions on billing, account-wide server control, and more privileges at the server level. We’ve also gone back and made sure old privileges were applied throughout OnePortal in a manner that is more comprehensible. No longer will you get arbitrary ‘permission denied’ errors, caused by completely unrelated privileges. For those of you who don't want to have to go in and dole out settings for your existing users, you're in luck as well. We've created defaults for these new privileges based on related settings.

Another aspect of how we’ve revamped our privileges is changing how package based privileges default. Previously, a privilege that was specific to a server was opt-out. If they were not modified, they would default to be allowed. Now, almost all of our server based privileges map to a "parent privilege," which they use as a default. This means that you shouldn't have a situation where a crafty user can control a server they aren’t meant to.

Keep in mind, the primary user on your account still has all privileges. Thus, if you are trying to manage another user’s privileges, but do not have the permission to do so, they can grant you the ability. All of these changes have been made to provide you with an experience that is simple, solid and superior.