Audience

Audience

Audience determines who receives your Admin UX Cleaner (AUC) configuration.

Before configuring Menu Cleaner, Page Locks, Dashboard Cleaner, or other AUC features, you should define which WordPress roles and users the configuration should apply to.

This allows you to customize the WordPress admin experience for clients or other users while keeping selected accounts unaffected.

Audience settings let you control which WordPress roles and individual users are affected by AUC.

How Audience Works

AUC evaluates the current WordPress user against your Audience configuration.

You can target users based on:

• WordPress roles
• Individual users

This gives you flexibility to create broad rules for a role while making exceptions for specific users.

For example, you could apply AUC to all users with the Editor role but exclude one specific Editor who needs access to the full admin interface.

Targeting Roles

Role targeting is useful when multiple users have the same responsibilities.

For example, a typical client website might have:

• Administrators who maintain the website.
• Editors who manage content.
• Authors who publish their own posts.

Instead of configuring each account individually, you can target an entire WordPress role.

Select WordPress roles when the same AUC configuration should apply to multiple users.

When a role is included, users with that role are part of the target audience unless another Audience rule excludes them.

Targeting Individual Users

You can also target individual WordPress users.

This is useful when a configuration should apply only to a specific account or when a user needs different treatment from other users with the same role.

Individual users can be included or excluded independently of broader role targeting.

For example, you might:

• Apply AUC only to a specific client account.
• Exclude a developer from restrictions applied to other users.
• Make an exception for a user who needs additional admin access.

Include and Exclude Rules

Audience rules can include or exclude roles and users.

Include defines who should receive the AUC configuration.

Exclude defines who should remain unaffected by that configuration.

When a user matches both an include and an exclude condition, the exclude condition takes priority.

For example:

• Include: Editor
• Exclude: john

If John has the Editor role, other Editors will receive the AUC configuration, but John will not.

This makes it possible to target broad groups while still creating specific exceptions.

Exclude Takes Priority

A simple rule to remember is:

Exclude wins over Include.

If a user matches an exclusion rule, AUC will not apply the targeted configuration to that user even if they also match an included role or user rule.

This behavior helps make exceptions predictable and reduces the need to create overly complicated audience configurations.

Example: A Client Website

Suppose a website has the following users:

A possible Audience configuration would be:

Include roles

• Editor

Exclude users

• Senior Editor

The Client Manager and Content Editor will receive the AUC configuration because they have the Editor role.

The Senior Editor also has the Editor role, but remains unaffected because the individual user is explicitly excluded.

The Administrator accounts are not included, so the configuration does not apply to them.

Audience and AUC Features

Audience acts as the targeting layer for AUC.

Once a user is part of the configured audience, supported AUC features can apply their settings to that user.

This can include:

• Menu Cleaner
• Page Locks
• Notice Cleaner
• Dashboard Cleaner
• Admin Bar Cleaner

You normally define the audience first and then configure how the WordPress admin experience should change for those users.

Audience Does Not Change WordPress Roles

Audience does not modify WordPress roles or capabilities.

Selecting an Editor, Administrator, or another role in AUC does not change what WordPress itself considers that role capable of doing.

Audience only determines whether the relevant AUC configuration should apply to the user.

For actual WordPress permission management, use the WordPress roles and capabilities system or an appropriate permission-management solution.

Be Careful With Administrator Accounts

AUC can be used in environments where multiple administrator accounts exist, but administrator targeting should be configured carefully.

Before applying restrictions to administrators:

1. Make sure your own administrative access is protected.
2. Review Owner Bypass and other available safety mechanisms.
3. Make a small change first.
4. Preview and test the configuration.
5. Confirm that recovery options are available before applying broader restrictions.

Do not rely only on hidden menu items when you need actual access restriction. Use Page Locks for pages that should not be directly accessible to the selected audience.

Preview Your Audience

After configuring Audience, use Preview to inspect the admin experience for a selected role or user.

Preview a selected role or user to verify how your Audience configuration affects the WordPress admin experience.

Preview is especially useful after changing Audience settings because it lets you confirm that your configuration is targeting the users you intended.

For important client workflows, we also recommend testing with an appropriate WordPress user account before handing over the website.

Recommended Approach

For most websites, keep your Audience configuration as simple as possible.

A good starting point is:

1. Target the role used by your client or content team.
2. Add individual exclusions only when necessary.
3. Avoid targeting administrators unless there is a clear reason.
4. Preview the affected role or user.
5. Test important workflows before deployment.

Simple Audience rules are easier to understand, maintain, and troubleshoot later.

Next Step

Once your Audience is configured, continue with Menu Cleaner to customize the WordPress admin navigation for those users.

If you need to prevent users from directly accessing specific admin pages, see Page Locks.