My Private SitebyDavid Gewirtz

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Allows the Administrator to restrict a WordPress-based web site to viewing only by registered users who are logged on. Any attempt, by anyone not logged, to view any Page, Post or other part of the site will display a WordPress login screen.

Login prompts are provided whenever a non-logged in user (“site visitor”) attempts to access any URL controlled by WordPress on the web site. This plugin does not control non-WordPress web pages, such as .html and .php files created by hand or by other software products. Or images and other media and text files directly accessed by their URL, or from a browser’s directory view, if available.

Features and Settings:

• Supports WordPress Networks (“Multisite”), with Network-wide Settings planned for a future version
• Visible Exclusions settings allow the entry of a list of URLs that will always be visible, and never be hidden by the plugin; a separate Setting is provided for hiding or revealing Site Home without the need to enter its URL
• A URL Prefix option in Visible Exclusions, matches, and makes visible, all URLs that begin with the one or more partial URLs entered
• Supports Custom Login and Registration pages at URLs different than the standard WordPress Login and Registration URLs
• Landing Location settings determine what the User sees after successfully logging in
• Landing Location is set for both automatic Login prompts and the Meta Widget’s Login link
• User Self-Registration settings (varies between Network and Non-Network WordPress) are presented on the plugin’s Settings page for easy access
• No known Theme incompatibilities, and only known Plugin incompatibility is with the A5 Custom Login plugin
• Special functionality is included to not hide Login- and Registration-related URLs used by BuddyPress and Theme My Login plugins
• Remember Me improvements at Login via free companion plugin, jonradio Remember Me, which can be downloaded separately from the WordPress Plugin Repository
• Overrides WordPress hiding of Network Activated plugins, just for itself; tp provide this feature for all plugins, use the free companion plugin, jonradio Reveal Network Activated Plugins, which can be downloaded separately from the WordPress Plugin Repository
• Setting to disable the plugin so that other plugin Settings can be changed when the Site is not set to Private

If you allow Self-Registration, where new Users can Register themselves, you will need to select the “Reveal User Registration Page” setting or new Users will be blocked from seeing the WordPress Registration screen (on WordPress Networks, turning off the Reveal User Registration Page setting on the “Main Site” will prevent Registration from all Sites). For convenience, the WordPress Setting that controls Self-Registration of Users has been added to the Plugin’s Settings page.

Another Setting allows the Private Site feature to be turned off. When the plugin is installed and activated, the Private Site feature is set off by default, to allow the Administrator an opportunity to become familiarized with the plugin’s features and to set the desired settings. A warning that the site is not private appears after first activation of the plugin until the Administrator visits the plugin’s Settings page.

If a WordPress Network is defined, the plugin can be activated individually for select sites. Or Network Activated. In either case, each site will have its own Settings page where the Private Site feature can be turned off (default) or on for just the one site, and a Landing Location defined for each site.

Yes, there are other plugins that hide some or all WordPress content for any site visitor who is not logged on. But when I was searching for a solution for one of the web sites I support, I decided to “write my own” because I knew how it worked and felt comfortable that there would be no way for anyone not logged in to view the site, including Search Engines.

Adoption Notice
This plugin was recently adopted by David Gewirtz and ongoing support and updates will continue. Feel free to visit David’s Lab Notes for additional details and to sign up for emailed news updates.

Special thanks to Jon ‘jonradio’ Pearkins for creating the plugin and making adoption possible.