Admin menu, navigation menu and widgets per role

Three layers, one warning: what is hidden here is hidden — not forbidden. A menu entry that is not in the bar remains reachable through its address as long as the role holds the matching capability. Whoever wants to forbid something for real takes the capability away in the capability matrix; then WordPress itself steps in. The interface says so at each of the three places.

Admin menu

1. In the left sidebar under “Visibility” choose the item “Admin menu”.
2. Pick the role at the top.
3. Tick the entries that should disappear for this role — ticked means: this entry disappears.
4. Save for this role.

Navigation menu

Individual menu items on the front end are set where the item is edited anyway: in WordPress’s menu editor. A second list somewhere else would be a second source that at some point diverges from the first. The rule works through the filter wp_get_nav_menu_items.

wp_get_nav_menu_items

Widgets

Individual widgets on the front end can be shown or hidden depending on the role — for the notice box that only concerns the editorial team, or the sign-in block that signed-in visitors no longer need. If your theme uses no widgets, the section says so: block themes use blocks instead of widgets, and there is no such control for those.

Areas of the Kakapo plugins

Under “Kakapo areas”, areas inside the Kakapo plugins can be locked per role — so that the editorial team may maintain the specialist areas but does not cancel the licence or switch the white label. The six system areas white label, licence, Your data, Guide, Help & support and Remote sites belong to the suite’s shared frame: for a locked role they are not output at all, and the frame refuses their actions. That is a real lock. Specialist areas each plugin renders itself — there the menu entry and panel disappear, but the content was in the server’s reply.