Today we will learn How to customize the WordPress login page. Your login screen is one of your website’s most important pages. It protects your dashboard from unwanted intrusions and has all the features you need right out of the box. However, it is somewhat lacking in customization options and most WordPress login pages look exactly the same. Fortunately, WordPress itself is almost endlessly customizable. With the right tools, you can change almost every aspect of the platform, including the way your login screen looks and functions Some of these changes may even increase its security level, which is great news.
In this post, we’re going to talk about why and when you might want to customize your WordPress login screen. Then we’ll teach you three ways to do it using different tools. Let’s get to work!
Why (and when) do you want to customize your WordPress login page
In most cases, people don’t spend much time on login pages. This means they don’t pay much attention to how these pages look or what features they can offer. However, when you’re in charge of a website, it’s always a smart idea to customize every aspect to make it completely your own.
Here are a few reasons to include a login screen:
- A non-generic login screen can make your website look more professional. It doesn’t take much to help make your login page visually stand out.
- This is an opportunity to strengthen your brand. For example, you can replace the WordPress logo with your own.
- You can increase the security of your login screen. WordPress login pages are generally only as secure as your users’ credentials, but you can make them more secure by making some basic changes.
As a rule of thumb, if you are going to have multiple users logging in and out of your website, it makes sense to customize your login screen. Multi-author blogs, for example, can benefit significantly from security improvements to reduce the likelihood of hacker entry.
Another time to customize your login screen makes sense if you’re building a website for a client. In that case, you’ll want to white label the entire site, which means ‘rebranding’ the platform so it matches the client’s style. This includes the front and back ends of the site, as well as the login page.
How to customize your WordPress login page
We’re going to teach you how to use three unique plugins to customize your WordPress login page. Note that there are plenty of other tools you can use to accomplish the same results, but we’ve chosen three plugins that we found to be the most user-friendly. As always, be sure to backup your site before making changes. Let’s get to it!
1. Change the style of your login page
If you want to change the look of your WordPress login screen, we recommend using the Customize WordPress Login Page plugin:
This simple tool enables you to change almost any aspect of your login screen’s style, from the logo to the background and more. In other words, this is the perfect way to brand your login page (or white label it for a client website).
To get started, you need to install and activate the plugin. Afterward, you’ll be able to access the plugin’s control panel from Settings > Admin Custom Login:
Inside, you’ll find separate tabs for your background, login form, font, and logo design. Clicking on any of them will display options to customize that particular element. For example, look at the Background Design tab – all you have to do here is pick an image or a color, and you’re done:
This plugin is incredibly easy to use, but if you run into any problems, you can always consult its documentation. When you’re done, remember to go to the plugin’s Dashboard tab and enable the Admin Custom Login Status setting. Otherwise, your new login screen settings will not appear:
It was easy to start. Now, let’s talk about how to change more than just the style of your login page.
2. Change your login error message
By default, when you try to log into your website using incorrect credentials, WordPress will tell you what your mistake was. For example, here’s what WordPress will tell you if you enter the wrong password for your username:
From a practical point of view, this method enables you to correct your mistakes quickly. However, this makes it easier for attackers to brute force your login screen, as they will know exactly where they went wrong. Buy WordPress hosting for your website.
The good news is that you can change these messages using a tool like the Custom Login Page Customizer – Loginpress plugin:
This tool enables you to change every single error message on your login screen. Just install and activate it, then go to Appearance > Customizer tab Inside, find the LoginPress > Error Messages section:
On your left, you’ll find a list of every error message WordPress is capable of displaying out of the box, and you can change them. We recommend focusing primarily on the Wrong Username message and Wrong Password message fields For example, you might want to use a generic “Oops! There was an error with your certificate.” Message for both.
3. Add a social login feature
Finally, you may want to enable an alternate way to log in to your site. A social login option allows you and your users to access WordPress without having to remember or type your credentials Instead, with this feature, you can use your social media accounts to register and access the website, making life easier for users.
To implement this feature, we’re going to use the Super Socializer plugin:
Besides enabling you to implement social logins, this plugin can help you add share buttons, calculations, and other similar features to your website. To learn more about these options, see its documentation. For now, always install and activate the plugin, then go to Super Socializer > Social Login tab. Inside, you’ll find a quick toggle to enable the feature:
Once you toggle it, a few fields will appear below, where you can choose the platforms you want to enable social login on:
You may notice question mark icons next to each platform field. You can click on each platform for instructions on how to get the keys and IDs you need to work. Alternatively, you can read those instructions directly from the Super Socializer documentation.
Conclusion
WordPress works well out of the box, but there are aspects of the platform that you can improve with a few small tweaks. Your login screen, for example, is begging for a change (since it looks exactly the same on every WordPress website). Changing its style can make your site look more professional and adding certain functionality to it can increase its security.
