How to Lock Your Website Behind a Login on WordPress

On WordPress, if you set the default theme to anything other than the Twenty Eleven theme, the login screen looks nothing like the classic WordPress login. Most people don’t even know that they can customize the login screen on their own WordPress site. But they can, and we’ll show you how.

Change the Theme

Since we’re already in default mode, let’s head to the Appearance menu and change the theme. Select the Twenty Eleven option from the drop-down menu and hit the save button. Now, when you log in to your WordPress site, you should see something like this:

That’s right, folks. The login screen on your WordPress site does not have to look like the classic WordPress login. You can choose any theme that you want from the thousands of themes available in the WordPress repository. When choosing a new theme, put your focus on usability and design, not just appearance.

You can also use a different WordPress editor for the log-in screen if you want. There’s nothing stopping you from using the classic thirty-two point font for your username and password or going with the trendy cursive writing. It’s all about what you want for your own site. Just keep in mind that the more attention you pay to the looks of your log-in screen, the less attention you’ll have for the content that you’re creating.

Add a Login Button

Let’s move on to the next step and add a login button to the login screen. Once you have the basic layout of your WordPress site done, you can start adding more features. For example, you can add a feature to allow users to register for an account on your site without having to leave the comfort of their browsers. But, for now, let’s just focus on getting a login button on your login screen.

Go to dashboard, click on Appearance, and click on the Customize button. In the pop-up that appears, click on the plus sign to add a new option. Search for login button in the box that opens and then click on the orange button to select it. When you click on the orange button, you’ll see a box with four options in it. Now, let’s walk through adding a login button to your site.

First, set the login button’s location by entering the name of the location in the box that appears. The options are:

• Top left
• Top right
• Bottom left
• Bottom right

Now, let’s style the login button. You can use the button’s default style, enter a CSS class of your own, or choose from one of the many available styles.

If you went with the default style, that’s what you’ll see. But if you want, you can add an additional CSS class to it to change the look of your login button. For example, if you have a purple theme, you could add a CSS class of.purple to make your login button look like a plush purple rabbit (just kidding).

Remove Default Login Buttons

If you’re reading this, I assume that you already have a login button added to your login screen. If not, please read the previous section carefully and follow the steps. In most cases, the login button is located at the top left corner of the screen. To remove it and return your login screen to its original look, follow these steps.

Go to dashboard, click on Appearance, and click on the Customize button. In the pop-up that appears, click on the minus sign to remove an option. Find the login button in the options listed and then click on the X to remove it. You can also use the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+A to select all the options and then press the Delete key on your keyboard to delete them. Your log-in screen should now look like this:

Simple, right? Just remember to add a login button whenever you add a new menu item on your WordPress site’s side bar. Otherwise, users will just have to swipe left to right to get to the login screen.

WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems around because it’s so easy to use. But if you can customize even the simplest elements on your own site, you can make it look more unique and creative. Plus, you can add more features to it that make it much more useful and functional. Now, that’s something to be proud of.