Setting Up Restricted Access

Restricted Access: How does it work? If you would like to limit your content on Readz to a particular group of users, then the Restricted access feature of Readz can help you. Let’s have a look and see how this works. A lot of times, restricted access can be very tedious and cumbersome for the user, they have to register, create a password, remember the password, so on and so on. We at Readz wanted it to be as easy as possible for the users. We use an protection that does not require manual logins, but instead recognizes the user and device, and lets them see the content based on their permissions. This is how it works with Readz: When a user goes to your Readz restricted access page, the system will search for the user’s unique ID. When the system confirms that their ID has access, they will be shown the content. If their ID is not found, they will be denied access to the page. This entire exchange will happen in milliseconds, and the user will not even notice it’s happening, If they have access to the page, it will seem to load as usual. To set up this process and give each user their unique ID, we have a very simple one-time authentication procedure. It’s much easier on the users than the traditional login and password format. We do this through an authentication link sent to the user’s email. For a user that needs access, it can be done in two different ways. You as a site manager can send an invitation email with the link, or the user can request the link on a landing page by filling out his or her email address as we see here. Then the Readz system will send them an authentication link to their email. After the user has gone through this process, the system will recognize them immediately when they go to the page. It’s important to know that this authentication of the user happens on two levels: email and device. The system authenticates the browser and device combination used. For example, Chrome and the User’s Macbook. After clicking on the initial link, the user will be able to access the content automatically whenever using the same computer/browser. However if the user tried to access the same content with the same email on a different device, they would need to check their email and click on the link again to be authenticated. Additionally, you can put a timestamp or expiration date on the ID of your users. This will force users to re-authenticate themselves after a specific period. This was an overview on how Restricted access works, and the experience of the users. See our next video on how to set up and manage restricted access for your Readz page.