… you can edit the settings by going to Settings > WP-Members.
… when you first go to the plugin settings page, you may notice various warning messages. These messages will alert you to any WordPress recommended settings changes.
… the plugin installs to block Posts by default, but not Pages. If you intend to block Pages, you will need to change the default plugin setting.
Recommended WordPress Settings
Recommended settings for WordPress are discussed in more detail in the documentation. Here is an overview of the basic recommendations:
- Check “Users must be logged in to comment” under Settings > Discussion. If content is blocked, WP-Members blocks the comments as well, but if a page or post is unblocked, and you want only registered users to be able to comment, then you must check this settings.
- It is highly recommended that you set feed settings to show “Summary.” If you do not, any content in your feed will be full content. A scenario where this may not be critical would be if you are using the plugin to block pages, but not posts. However, if you are blocking posts, you most definitely want the feed setting to only show summary excerpts.
- If your WP permalinks setting (found in Settings > Permalinks) is set to “plain,” it is highly recommended that you change it. It is not required that you change these, but it will make your URLs more human (and SEO) friendly.
When starting off, keep things simple. This plugin is highly customizable, as is WordPress. But the more you add right away, the more difficult it will be to fine tune or troubleshoot. It is better to implement things one by one so you know what they do and what they affect.
Blocking Posts/Pages by default
WP-Members can block post and/or pages by default.
When initially installed, the plugin will be set to block posts, but not pages, but you can change that setting on the Options screen.
Posts: it is important that you get in the habit of using the ‘read more’ tag in your posts if you are blocking posts by default. This is what creates an excerpt for summary pages, such as monthly archives or search results. If you do not use the ‘read more’ tag, use the auto-excerpt setting.
Pages: pages do not need to use the ‘read more’ tag. However, if you have selected to “Show Excerpts” above the login/registration on restricted content, you MUST use the ‘read more’ tag on a page, otherwise the full content will show above the login/registration.
Regardless of the default setting you have chosen for Posts or Pages, any Post or Page can be set at the article level to override the default setting.
A full discussion of each of these settings is covered in the Documentation.
Fields
This settings screen allows you to pick which data fields will be included in your registration form and which of the selected fields will be required.
- Also, the plugin notes which of the fields is native to WordPress.
- In the Fields tab, you can add custom fields or remove non-native fields.
- Any field marked “Display” will be part of the registration form, otherwise it is considered “admin use only.”
- Fields that are not being used or are not needed can be deleted.
Managing Content
A Blocked Post
If you have set posts to be blocked by default, then setting up content to be blocked is nothing more than adding the ‘read more‘ tag to the post content.
Any content before the ‘read more’ tag will be shown as an excerpt on summary pages (such as archives) and on the individual post page if you have selected to “Show Excerpts.”
A Blocked Page
If you have set Pages to be blocked by default, you do not need to do anything. All pages will be blocked automatically (you can override this setting on individual pages, which will be covered shortly).
IMPORTANT: The ‘read more’ tag is generally not used on pages, and is not required by the plugin to block a page. However, if you have selected to “Show Excerpts,” you MUST use the ‘read more’ tag for any blocked pages. Otherwise, all of the content will show as the excerpt. Auto-excerpt can be set for pages just like posts in the plugin’s options tab.
Override the Default Setting for Posts/Pages
Any article’s block/unblocked status can override the default setting at the article level. For example, if you have selected to block all pages by default, but you want to have an unblocked “About Us” page, you would create the content as usual, but then check the “unblock this page” checkbox in the upper right hand meta box.
Dialogs
This screen allows you to customize certain dialogs and error messages that the plugin delivers on the front end. This should be self explanatory.
Note that if you have selected to moderate registrations (holding them for admin approval), you should definitely change the “registration completed” dialog to something more appropriate.
HTML is allowed in the dialog messages. However, it should be noted that you need to carefully test any HTML that you use to be sure that it is compatible between the plugin and your theme.
At the bottom of this screen, you can enter HTML for the Terms of Service (TOS) pop-up or use the TOS shortcode to link to a TOS page.
Special Pages
WP-Members has some special pages you can use such as User Profile, Register, and Login. These are called with the following shortcodes:
To use these, create a new page and add the shortcode. Shortcodes can be entered by hand or can be selected from the [[wp-members]] menu in the post editor.
The User Profile Page
The most important of the special pages is the User Profile. This is where logged in users can update their registration information and also change their password
(the plugin sends a random password via email as a validation process, this is where they can change it).
If a user is not logged in, this page is where they will come to reset a forgotten password (a random password will be reset and sent to them via email).
The register and login pages are set up using the same method as the User Profile described above and the above mentioned shortcodes. It is not mandatory that you set these pages up. They are simply there if you need them.
The registration form by default will show on any blocked content pages, giving the user a change to register immediately. If you turn this feature off in the plugin settings, you will want to have a register page set up.
A more in depth discussion of setting up these pages and their features is covered in the Documentation.