How to Customize and Manage Your WordPress Login Screen

The login screen is like the front door of your website. Not only does it keep undesirables out, but it also lets people in. And for this reason, it not only needs to be secure but also appealing, thus you need to create a custom login area in WordPress.

And just like every other part of WordPress, there are a ton of customizations you can do to this area.

Today, I will demonstrate how to customize your login screen in WordPress.

How to Find and Protect Your WordPress Login Screen

Before you can do any work in WordPress, you need to log into the system. This will give you access to the admin panel and editing tools to make your website shine.

However, not everyone knows where to find the WordPress login screen.

How to Find the Login Area

WordPress installations are the same. That means the various URLs are universal, at least on a basic WordPress install. Sometimes a web host may take the time to customize WordPress installs on their servers, so there can be variations.

In about 99% of cases, https://www.yourdomain.com/login will bring you to your website’s login area. However, it is not the only URL that will bring you there.

For example, https://www.yourdomain.com/wp-login.php will also bring you to the login screen. Or alternatively, if you typed in https://www.yourdomain.com/admin, you would be redirected to the login page if you were not already logged in.

Keep in mind that these examples do not work in all installations of WordPress. If you have a subdirectory, the situation is different.

This is often used by eCommerce companies to separate blogs or to have specific content management systems to control various parts of the website.

If you have WordPress installed in a separate subdirectory, then you will need to know that location before accessing the login page.

For example, let’s say you installed WordPress on your website into its own directory instead of the primary account. It may look something like https://www.yourdomain.com/wordpress/.

If this is the case, the same logic from the previous examples all apply, but the difference would be that extra “/WordPress” slug.

Thus, http//www.yourdomain.com/wordpress/login would bring you to the login screen.

Keeping the Login Screen Protected

Because the login screen is essentially the gateway to your WordPress website, you want to keep it protected. There are many ways you can keep this access point secure. Here are just a few of the effective ones we’ve found to help you.

Secure Socket Layers

Providing Secure Socket Layers, or SSL is one of the best ways to protect your login screen as well as your website. These layers encrypt the data between the site and the user. This can prevent things like data snooping and information theft while others access the site.

IP Blacklisting

Blacklisting an IP address from accessing the login screen is an effective way to limit traffic. For instance, some IP addresses are known for hacking activity. Plugins like Loginizer will keep track of login attempts from hackers and bots and blocks those IP addresses completely. This means the login screen becomes completely inaccessible.

Two-Factor Authentication

A lot of people will employ the two-factor identification method to keep the login process protected. Plugins such as Google Authenticator give you the option to incorporate SMS text messaging into the login process. Another method could be in the form of scanning a QR code from a computer monitor with your smartphone to access the admin area of WordPress.

reCAPTCHA

While many users may find this annoying, reCAPTCHA is still one of the most effective strategies to protect your login area. Every time a user tries to log in, they will need to enter a series of letters, solve a puzzle, or pick out images.

It stops bots from entering your site. There are plenty of plugins that add this, but reCAPTCHA by BestWebSoft is among the best.

Hiding Your WordPress Login Page

Another way to protect the login area is to hide it. Why does this work? Well, it’s pretty simple, if a hacker doesn’t know where to look, they can’t access it.

By default, WordPress installs are identical. In the case of the login screen, it is always in the same location:
htps://www.yourdomain.com/login.

As you can imagine, anyone can add the “/login to a URL. Thus, hackers can quickly locate it and start trying to brute force their way in.

However, if you change it to something unorthodox, well, they will have a harder time finding the login page. Now, it doesn’t make it impossible to find, but it will certainly increase the security of your website.

Step 1: Install WPS Hide Login

Let’s start by clicking on Plugins and selecting the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for WPS Hide Login in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the WPS Hide Login plugin, click on the “Install Now” button, and activate the plugin for use.

Step 2: Choose A New Login URL

The WPS Hide Login plugin is extremely simple. All you actually need to do is customize the slug and save the changes. It’s quite easy to set up and will only take a minute at most.

On the left-hand admin panel, click on Settings and select the WPS Hide Login option.

You’ll see the Login URL area. Here, you can enter the new login slug you want to use. For reference, the default is “/login” so you can pick literally anything else.

For instance, I will use “/taco.”

NOTE: It is imperative that you write this new slug down somewhere. Otherwise, you will not be able to log into your own website. Either make the URL something easy to remember or keep track of it somewhere.

Step 3: Choose A Redirection URL

Now, there is also an option for a Redirection URL. This is where users that enter the default WordPress login URL will be sent. By default, the plugin sends them to a 404 page, which is perfectly fine.

The only thing you don’t want to enter here is your new login slug, as that would defeat the purpose.

Now, just click on the “Save Changes” button and you have successfully hidden your login area.

What If You Forget Your New Login Page?

Without knowing the login slug, you’re not going to be able to access your website. In the event you forgot what you named the new login screen, remove the plugin from your WordPress directory.

You’ll have to log into File Manager from cPanel or use an FTP program to access your site’s root folder. From here, just go to wp-content > Plugins, and remove WP Hide Login from your website.

How to Customize WordPress Login Error Messages and Hints

Another security measure you should incorporate is to customize the messages and errors of your custom login page for WordPress.

For example, let’s say that a hacker has an idea of what your username is. If he or she tries it with the wrong password, WordPress will respond with an error message: “The password you entered for the username BobsAccount is incorrect.”

This is a clear hint that the username, “BobsAccount” is an actual account in WordPress.

Now, this is a fine line to walk. On one hand, you want to make it hard for hackers. On the other hand, users may need a little help to identify what is wrong. Thus, removing the messages may not be a good idea, but it really depends on your situation.

In any case, making these changes is quite easy with the right tool.

Step 1: Install LoginPress

In this tutorial, I’ll demonstrate LoginPress. It’s a very useful tool that helps you customize login error messages as well as the login screen itself. It’s a great way to add more visual appeal if you allow users to register or simply protect your site if you’re the only one accessing the site.

In terms of usability, it’s exceptionally easy. Normally, you would need to edit some code to make these changes, but instead, you just use the customizer to edit the default WordPress login messages.

You can see the changes immediately after making them. The plugin does have other features, but for the purpose of this tutorial, we will not explore them.

As is tradition for all plugin-based tutorials, you need to start out by installing and activating the “LoginPress” plugin.

Step 2: Customize Login Error Messages

A new function will appear in the left admin column. Click “LoginPress” to open the settings screen.

From here, you can enable things like reCAPTCHA, custom password fields, and the log-in order. This is convenient especially if you want to only allow usernames or passwords. By default, WordPress allows both.

Click on the “Customizer” link in the left column.

This screen is similar to the Customizer used to modify themes. In these instances, the tool is used to customize your login screen. You can change colors, images, or add your own CSS. Click the LoginPress option on the left.

Here is where the real functionality of LoginPress resides. From here, you have a myriad of abilities to create the perfect login page for your WordPress website. For this tutorial, click the “Error Messages” option.

From this screen, you can change any of the login error messages to remove hints from WordPress. For instance, you can change the message that appears if someone tries to register an account using an email that already exists. This lets hackers know a specific email is registered on the site.

You can change messages such as these to be more generalized. Something as simple as “Error: Email Address Invalid” neither confirms nor denies a specific email address is accessible on the account.

For this example, I’m going to change both the incorrect username and password to this message: “Invalid User.”

Step 3: Save Your Settings

Once you customize the WordPress login error messages, click the “Publish” button on the top left. This will save your changes, which will be live immediately.

Click the “X” icon on the top left corner to close the Customizer.

Now when you try to put in either the wrong username or password, the error message simply states “Invalid User.”

This kind of generic error removes any hint of an existing username or password. It’s simple but highly effective.

Ways to Add the Login Screen to Your Website

Now obviously, while some websites will go out of their way to hide the login section of their website, it is also an essential part of the website. Simply put, if you don’t log in, you can’t actually edit the website.

Therefore, you don’t want this to be an annoying experience for yourself, the staff, or visitors.

That’s why most websites have a way to get to the login area front and center on their website. And like most things in WordPress, there are a variety of ways you can add the login screen in WordPress.

1. Meta Widget

One of the default widgets in WordPress is Meta. This widget provides links to log in and out of the website as well as display the link to areas such as the RSS feed.

All you need to do is add it to a widget area, such as the sidebar, footer, or header. Then you can just add a title and save the changes. There’s really nothing to it and it can make your life much easier.

2. Login Widget Plugin

It should come as no surprise to learn that there are multiple plugins that deal with the login area of WordPress. One such is the Login Widget With Shortcode plugin.

As the name suggests, it adds a widget that allows you to place a login area on your site with a shortcode.

This is not limited to widget areas either, you can add the shortcode directly onto a page or post. It’s one of the simplest tools to use in WordPress, so no matter your skill level, you won’t run into trouble.

3. Login Menu

All websites should incorporate a navigational menu. It helps users go from point A to point B without any trouble. One of the most common components of such a menu is the login area.

When creating the menu, all you need to do is add the URL to your login area and whenever it is clicked, you will encounter the login screen. It’s simple but effective.

How to Make a Custom WordPress Login Page

So far, we’ve talked about finding and protecting the login area, but now it is time to start customizing it. By default, your login area is branded by WordPress to promote WordPress.

Instead, your login page should contain your brand and promote your website. Someone should know they are on your website when they are trying to log in. And that’s why you need to build a custom login page.

This might sound complicated, but a login page is actually rather simple. After all, it just contains a login screen.

Now just to be clear, not every site needs to take this step. For instance, if you are the only one that needs to log into WordPress, then you don’t really need to do this. However, if you have staff or collaborations, you should.

It makes your website seem more professional and that can be really important for some work environments.

Step 1: Install Custom Login Page Customizer by Colorlib

If your looking to customize the WordPress login page, then the easiest way is with the Custom Login Page Customizer plugin. This plugin contains multiple templates that you can configure for your needs.

You can even just use the templates as they are if you wish. Thus, it’s perfect for beginners.

Start off by installing the plugin on your website.

Step 2: Choose A Custom WordPress Login Page Template

With the plugin installed, click on the Login Customizer option.

This will bring you to the theme customizer. Click on the Templates option.

Here you will find four templates to choose from. Simply select the one you like the most.

Step 3: Customize the Custom WordPress Login Page Template

Everything about these templates is customizable. All you need to do is locate the proper settings and adjust the. Let’s cover a few of them.

Now, you may not be a fan of the background images the templates use, and that’s not a problem. You can upload a custom image if you wish. Select the Background Options.

Then upload the image from your media library.

If you click on layout Options, you will be able to customize the layout of the template.

Similarly, just about anything else can be edited by going to the right option. The best part is that you can see the changes being made in real-time.

Create A Custom Login Page in WordPress Today

Every part of your WordPress install should be customized. A custom login page can be a great addition to any WordPress site and as you can see, it’s not that hard to pull off, especially with the right plugins.

Protecting this area from hackers and bots can save you a lot of headaches later on.

Did you customize the login page of WordPress? What steps did you take to protect the WordPress login page?

The post How to Customize and Manage Your WordPress Login Screen appeared first on GreenGeeks.