There are many reasons why you want to allow registration of a WordPress user. Maybe you have a member's area site or run a forum community.
You can only allow registered users to post comments in order to moderate discussions. Whatever your reason, we want to show you how to get your users up and running with their own accounts.
Allow user registration on WordPress
The very first step to take is very simple. Go to the page Settings - General in your WordPress dashboard. There you will find two essential options for this whole process: membership et Default role of new user.
You will want to tick the box that says that all world can register and choose your default role. Normally this will be a subscriber but because each role has different permissions, it may not be the best choice for your site.
By default, you get 5 user roles:
- Subscriber
- Author
- Editor
- Donor
- Administrator
Each of these roles has a different set of permissions and you can change them with certain plugins and code snippets . Some plugins will create specific user roles (such as BuddyPress creating the Keymaster role).
Usually thesubscriber is a good choice because it can't create articles or cause real trouble. Once you hit the save button, your site is ready for users to save. But you will need an ID and a online form registration to do so.
Option 1: Use the WordPress registration form
The easiest way to get registrations from your users is to go to the section Appearance - Widgets, to choose the widget Meta and drag it into the sidebar or footer.
The downside to this method is that the widget also includes RSS and WordPress.org links. It will also be able to provide a link that leads to the default WP login screen where they can register. This connection is not really obvious.
They will then be directed to the default WordPress user login and login page located at yoursite.com/wp-admin . They click on the (still) rather hidden link of the register , and they can register.
But since everything is quite obscure, you want your users to find the online form To register. Now the WordPress registration URL is https://votresite.com/wp-login.php?action=register , and you can access it at any time. This will send them to online form default registration box where they will choose a username and enter their email address.
When they confirm their email, the account will receive the default permissions you have defined above.
Option 2: Use a plugin
One of the best options for creating a front-end signup form (with a shortcode so you can place it anywhere) is a plugin called Ultimate Member. With the latter, you will not only be able to keep the look of your WordPress user registration page consistent with the rest of your brand, but you will also be able to manage the users themselves much more easily. With over 100 installations and consistent updates, you can afford to use it.
First of all you will want download and install Ultimate Member from the plugins repository. Once activated, you will receive a message stating that the plugin needs to create some new pages to work. Go ahead and give permission.
Once the pages are created, you are technically ready to continue. Users can register immediately on votresite.com/register, although you can change this URL for what you want.
If the default form doesn't work for you, you have two options. Edit or create a new one. You can find either one in the section Ultimate Member from your admin panel.
Make sure the registration form is (1) highlighted. The form creation itself is drag and drop. If you've used a page builder or the new WordPress Gutenberg editor before, your experience will be very similar.
The number of fields you can include is also quite large. By clicking on the + inside the editor (3) you can add as much detail as you need to know about your users.
The most important part of it all, however, is the box of shortcode (2) . When you copy and paste this code into a page or widget, this particular registration form is displayed. For example, you can paste it into the widget Custom HTML under Appearance - Widgets .
When this saves, you'll see the entire form appear in the sidebar (or wherever the widget is).
If you want this shape in the middle of a post, now you can. This is the great thing about having this code linked to a shortcode.
WordPress user login page
In addition to the user registration page, you can follow the exact same steps to create a login page. You just need to make sure that the login form is highlighted when it is created.
The Ultimate Member plugin has already created the default URL for it in the form yoursite.com/login . If you are using the default form, you have no more work to do. If you create one, you just need to insert the new shortcode into this page.
The end result will look something like this. Remember that you can also use the same set of fields for the login page as for the record.
The best part of this form is that the save button is visible and not hidden like the default WordPress.
Manage new users
By default, WordPress has a minimal user management system for administrators. You access the screen Edit a user to from the list of users of your admin dashboard and you can change many things about users. Such as their names, username, display name, emails and even their role. But in terms of permissions for these roles, you're out of luck by default. Plugins like Ultimate Member help by expanding what you can do without digging into WordPress code.
Additionally, you can create a member directory where you can manage users and view all of the people registered for your site or service. You can find it under Ultimate Member - Member Directories .
Depending on why you are allowing recording, you may or may not want this audience. It starts that way, however, as the unified messaging create a page yoursite.com/members containing the abbreviated number of the directory. You can remove or unpublish the page. If you are using a directory it will look like this by default.
Conclusion
Whatever the reason, asking users to register on your site is incredibly easy. With a few clicks and with a few tweaks, you can make the WordPress user record get obtuse and somehow hidden away to become another part of your site that you can be proud of and do great things with. . So get out there and start building your communities.
