Locking input form fields, does it make sense?

In certain views of our web-application, all information is usually presented as input fields as they can be modified.

Now, because of our rights and roles system, for some people, several input fields would be locked because they have reading but not modifying rights.

Is it appropriate to show this data as regular, read-only text, even if they, in a different scenario, like editing another person, would see editable inputs?

Answer

Showing disabled input fields can be useful because it indicates to the user that there are additional options or that the information can be edited in different circumstances.

If there is a benefit in your particular application for the user to know that this information is editable in a certain scenario (the correct role), then you could show them as locked. An additional message could also be displayed to explain why some fields are locked.

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See Windows update settings example: This example shows that the Important Updates field can't be changed, but showing it as an input rather than plain text, means I am aware that this is in fact a setting not just informative, and the additional red message explains why this field is locked. I now know that if I want to get at this setting I need to track down my system administrator and ask permission from them.