Custom WordPress Login Like Never Before
Do you manage or own a WordPress website that allows users to login to access user-specific content? If so making the login process as easy and fast as possible will definitely lead you to not only a better user experience but more online success. If users need to log into your website you need to ensure that this process works very smoothly. Failure to do so will result in a poor user experience and also could decrease your productivity because your users are going to be reaching out when they have problems logging into your site.
This is often an overlooked area with membership sites an e-commerce websites where users must login to access their account or user-specific content. In most cases the login will be a redirect to a page with a form when are user needs to access content that requires a login before it is viewed. Sometimes depending on the optimization of the website, internet speed and hosting environment this redirect and loading of the login page could take a very long time.
There are two main things that you should consider when putting a strong focus on the login process to your website. The first thing is making sure that users can find where to login within a matter of milliseconds when reaching your site. The second thing is how quickly they can login once they find the area where to do so. Let us break down each one of these a bit more below.
How fast can someone find the login area?
When a user or a customer lands on your website they should be able to find the login area within milliseconds of viewing the page. Making it harder for them to track down where to actually log into your site can raise issues from a usability standpoint and also cause users to reach out in social media or your contact page to find where to log into your site.
We have seen many websites over the years that will put a login link in the footer of their website which will be at the bottom of a page and in most cases very hard to find. We have also seen many login designs where there will be a login form on the sidebar of a page which can get lost in the content. Studies show that the best area to put your login link would be in the main menu of the website. This ensures that it will be displayed on every page the visitor sees. Go a step further and highlight the color of the text that you are using to link to your login area or change the font size and style to make it stand out.
Just to re-emphasize that the main point here is that any visitor viewing any page on your website can easily find the area where to login within milliseconds of seeing the page.
How long does it take for the login process to complete?
The second most important thing to put your focus on when it comes to streamlining the login process to your website is how long this process actually takes for a user to complete. We live in an age where people want things as fast as possible. That is especially goes for those that are browsing and using the web. You want to make sure that once a user finds the login area to your website they can very quickly login with no issues.
If you are simply using a login page that a user is redirected to after they click the login link in your menu, the user has to wait for that page to load. Then after that, they enter their login credentials and they have to wait for those credentials to be verified and the page to reload again after they are logged in. Now this process depending on the website being optimized for speed, the internet connection speed and the web hosting environment could take a very long time.
The best way to speed up this process is to eliminate steps. Less steps means a faster arrival to the finish line. And what we are talking about in terms of the finish line is being logged in. If you can eliminate one or multiple steps in the login process you will speed everything up and your user will be able to access their user-specific content much quicker. This creates a better user experience. That is great news right?
How do I create a Custom WordPress Login?
The great news with WordPress and why WordPress users love using the software is because there are plugins for pretty much every functionality that you would like to add to your site. Sure enough with the topic we are writing about here there is an amazing plugin that will streamline the login process to your website to create a better user experience across the board.
Now before we dive into the plugin that we would love to introduce you to we want you to inform you that our recommendation comes from a high level of research. We have over 10,000 active customers that are logging in and out of our website each day. We have taken extensive time researching and trying many of the login plugins that exist out there on the market. Before we started this process we had our own custom login setup that we were not fully satisfied with so this began our hunt for a better solution.
After months of trying and testing and receiving user feedback we landed our final decision with a login plugin from a company called StranoWeb. They have created a cutting-edge and super easy to use Ajax login plugin called StranoWeb Ajax Login.
DESCRIPTION
Stranoweb Ajax Login replaces default WordPress login, register and lost password forms with a beautiful ajax modal popup and comes with a lot of amazing features.
It is fully customizable and responsive, includes several social logins and allows you to disable new user registration and restrict WordPress admin dashboard to certain user roles.
FEATURES
- Ajax login, register and lost password modal popup (same functions are working even on non-popup mode)
- Fully customizable login, register, lost password and logout popups and pages
- Drag and Drop Registration Form builder (Premium version)
- Different popup layouts with image and text over image option (2 on free version, 6 on Premium)
- Custom Logo on the forms (Premium version)
- Custom css setting
- Social logins (Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn) with several icon styles and position displacement (Only Twitter on free version);
- Logged in Menu item: Once logged in the plugin adds a menu item to the selected menu with optional user thumbnail and additional sub menu Thumbnail style, menu item text and sub menu are fully customizable;
- Customizable redirects and permalinks;
- Option to redirect not logged-in users to login page (Premium version)
- WordPress admin dashboard access restriction to users with specific roles (Premium version)
- Password length, you can choose the minimum length required;
- Optional reCAPTCHA v2 and reCAPTCHA v3 for new user registration form
- Shortcode Support
- Email Customizers
- Shortcodes to add StranoWeb Ajax Login form on any page or post
- Hooks to help developers to integrate additional functions
What Does This Custom WordPress Login Cost?
This is where the news gets even better. In good WordPress development form StranoWeb has created both a free version and a premium version of their plugin. Now before we get into the difference is between both versions We want to stand on our soapbox a bit and preach that if you are serious about your website and the success online that you want to achieve you should always consider buying the premium version of a plugin that makes your website experience better. Developers put a lot of time and effort into creating these free plugins and we always love to support these developers by purchasing the premium version. It is not just support that we are giving them support, we also get our hands on a better version of the plugin with more features.
THE FREE VERSION
https://wordpress.org/plugins/stranoweb-ajax-login
FEATURES
- Ajax login, register and lost password modal popup (same functions are working even on non-popup mode)
- Fully customizable login, register, lost password and logout popups and pages
- Different popup layouts with image and text over image option (2)
- Custom CSS setting
- Social logins (Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn) with several icon styles and position displacement (Only Twitter on free version)
- Logged in Menu item: Once logged in the plugin adds a menu item to the selected menu with optional user thumbnail and additional sub menu Thumbnail style, menu item text and sub menu are fully customizable
- Customizable redirects and permalinks
- Password length, you can choose the minimum length required
- Optional reCAPTCHA v2 and reCAPTCHA v3 for new user registration form
- Shortcode Support
- Email Customizers
- Shortcodes to add StranoWeb Ajax Login form on any page or post
- Hooks to help developers to integrate additional functions
THE PREMIUM VERSION
https://www.ajaxlogin.com
FEATURES
- Everything in the FREE version
- Drag and Drop Registration Form builder
- Custom Logo on the forms
- Different popup layouts with image and text over image option (6)
- Option to redirect not logged-in users to login page
- WordPress admin dashboard access restriction to users with specific roles
PRICING – CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE DETAILS
https://www.ajaxlogin.com/pricing
In Conclusion
We have been using this plugin for about three months now and in those three months we have created a good relationship with the developer asking questions and providing feedback which they have taken on board and used to improve and update the plugin. We have also received an enormous stream of positive feedback from our users to the improvements of the our login process.
StranoWeb is a great company and has created a great plugin to streamline the process and create a custom WordPress login. If you look up in the menu on our site and click on the LOGIN text you will see the form pop up instantly. We are so happy and pleased that we have stumbled across this plugin and are excited to write this post sharing with others to add to your success online. If you have any questions or thoughts please comment below. Thank you and enjoy.