7 Ways to Spice Up Your WordPress Login

Logging in to a website is an important part of the user experience, especially with community-driven sites. Sometimes the design of the login area can get lost in the shuffle when focusing on the meat and potatoes of building a fully interactive community. However, the login form is often the first place you will interact with your user and a smooth, well-crafted experience will lend credibility to your community. Here are some excellent plugins and tutorials that will give your site an instant face lift for the login experience.

Sliding Login Panel:

This handy login panel is a smooth way to keep the Login and Registration process out of the way in a toggled panel with a deliciously clickable design. It is available in both MooTools and jQuery flavors.

» Find the demo/tutorial here.

Twitter-like Login:

This tutorial shows you how to tweak your login using jquery, again making use of that smooth toggle function to conserve space on the page and make the experience more pleasant for your users.

» Find the demo/tutorial here.

WordPress Modal Login:

Face it- that lightbox style function isn’t dying anytime soon. It accomplishes something on the page for the users wherein they don’t have to leave the content they’re currently viewing. This tutorial will assist you in adding this function to your WordPress login and registration experience. It’s basically a sandbox demo but any number of stylish customizations can make your login a fully branded entrance into your community site.

Find the demo/tutorial here.

WordPress Login Plugins:

BM Custom Login:

Download and install this plugin for a quick way to customize your login page. It includes a PSD template to help get your off the ground in designing your own. Check out this Flickr showcase to see what is possible with this plugin.

» Download the Plugin Here.

Custom Login Plugin:

This plugin is developed by the folks over at WPCULT.com and has dashboard options for customizing your background colors, images, borders, and labels. It’s a quick way to brand your login form without having to dig into template files.

» Download the Plugin Here.

Login With Ajax:

This plugin lends a little bit of Ajax goodness to your login form and the best part is that it is compatible with WordPressMU and BuddyPress! Cut down on page refreshes and authenticate with style.

» Download the Plugin Here.

Theme My Login Plugin:

This plugin matches your login, registration, and forgotten password pages to the rest of your website. It also allows you to redirect users upon login based on their roles, allows users to set their own passwords when they register, and includes a customizable widget to allow users to login anywhere from your blog.

» Download the Plugin Here.

Grab one of these plugins or combine them with some jQuery magic and start branding your site today! Do you have a customized login page for your blog or community site? We we want to see it! Link yourself in the comments.

Sarah Gooding on Google+