WPThumbs
Themes Plugins By purpose By industry Best-of lists Fix it guides
Free Plugin by Mike Jolley v3.0.1

Sidebar Login

Easily add an ajax-enhanced login widget to your WordPress site sidebar.

Sidebar Login

The facts

Rating
4.5★ from 78
Active installs
9k+
Price
Free
Last updated
17 Oct 2020
Added
Aug 2008
Requires WP
5.0
Tested up to
WP 5.5.20
Requires PHP
5.6
Downloads
1,050,394

Our analysis

AI-assisted

Sidebar Login is a WordPress plugin that adds a login widget to the sidebar of your site. Users can log in directly from the sidebar and will be redirected back to the page they logged in from, which can be configured. The plugin is suitable for WordPress sites that want to provide a convenient login option for users without directing them to the admin panel.

You can customise the widget's titles and links using various tags that display user-specific information. The plugin is designed for those who want to enhance user experience on community-oriented or membership sites.

Best for: This plugin is best for community or membership sites looking to streamline user login.

What it does well

  • Adds a login widget to the sidebar
  • Redirects users back to the original page after login
  • Customisable titles and links using user data
  • Open to code contributions via GitHub
  • Free to use from the WordPress.org directory

Where it falls short

  • Limited information on additional features or support
  • Last updated in October 2020

Verdict

Sidebar Login provides a straightforward solution for adding a login option in the sidebar. It is useful for sites that require user authentication but lacks recent updates.

From the developer

Mike Jolley's own description of Sidebar Login, lightly tidied.

Sidebar Login adds a useful login widget which you can use to login from in the sidebar of your WordPress powered blog.

Once a user logs in they are redirected back to the page they logged in from, rather than the admin panel (this is configurable).

If you’d like to contribute code to the plugin you can do so via GitHub.

If you’d like to contribute a translation, the project is hosted on WordPress.org.

Usage

Simply go to Appearance > Widgets and drag “sidebar login” to the sidebar of your choice. Within the widget are several options you can use for changing the titles or the links displayed to the user.

To use this widget in a template, use the the_widget() function which WordPress provides.

Tags for titles + links

These tags can be used in the widget settings for titles + links and will be replaced at runtime.

  • %username% – logged in users display name
  • %userid% – logged in users ID
  • %firstname% – logged in users firstname
  • %lastname% – logged in users lastname
  • %name% – logged in users firstname + lastname
  • %nicename% – user nice name
  • %admin_url% – url to WP admin
  • %logout_url% – logout url
  • %buddypress_profile_url% – Buddypress Profile URL
  • %bbpress_profile_url% – Buddypress Profile URL
  • %avatar% – User Avatar

Filter Reference

  • sidebar_login_include_css – return false to not include the CSS stylesheet
  • sidebar_login_widget_logged_in_links – An array of links shown when logged in.
  • sidebar_login_widget_logged_out_links – An array of links shown when logged out.
  • sidebar_login_widget_display – Return false to hide the widget.
  • sidebar_login_widget_logged_in_title – The widget title shown when logged in.
  • sidebar_login_widget_avatar_size – The avatar size – defaulted to 38 (thats in px)
  • sidebar_login_widget_logged_out_title – The widget title shown when logged out.
  • sidebar_login_widget_form_args – Arguments for the wp_login_form function.
  • sidebar_login_widget_login_redirect – Redirect URL after login.
  • sidebar_login_widget_logout_redirect – the redirect after logging out.
  • sidebar_login_widget_register_url – The URL for registration links.
  • sidebar_login_widget_lost_password_url – The URL for lost password links.
  • sidebar_login_widget_wp_login_form – The HTML of the Login form.

Action Reference

  • sidebar_login_widget_start – Fired before the widget.
  • sidebar_login_widget_{logged_in || logged_out}_content_start – Fired before the widget content.
  • sidebar_login_widget_before_{logged_in || logged_out}_links – Fired before the links.
  • sidebar_login_widget_after_{logged_in || logged_out}_links – Fire after the links.
  • sidebar_login_widget_{logged_in || logged_out}_content_end – Fired after the widget content.
  • sidebar_login_widget_end – Fired after the widget.

Notes

  • Due to AJAX not working across different domains (see same_origin_policy), AJAX logins will be disabled if your site it non-SSL, but the FORCE_SSL_ADMIN constant is set to true. Instead it will fallback to a traditional POST.

Read the full description on the official page →

Tagged as

Alternatives

Other plugins for managing URLs.

All in One SEO

AIOSEO is the WordPress SEO plugin. Boost SEO rankings with AI SEO tools, schema, meta descriptions, XML sitem...

Free 2M+ installs 4.7★ (5,201)
301 Redirects

Manage 301 & 302 redirects. Simple redirection & redirects validation. Includes redirect stats & 4...

Free 300k+ installs 4.7★ (578)
Redirection for Contact Form 7

Redirect to any page or URL, execute scripts after submission, save data to the database, and unlock additiona...

Free 200k+ installs 4.7★ (275)
Permalink Manager Lite

Permalink Manager enhances WordPress’s built-in URL system, allowing you to change the URLs of native and cust...

Free 100k+ installs 4.8★ (176)
WP Encryption

Lifetime SSL solution - Free SSL certificate & HTTPS redirect, fix insecure site / SSL errors, Security he...

Free 50k+ installs 4.9★ (1,143)
Redirection

Manage 301 redirects, track 404 errors, and improve your site. No knowledge of Apache or Nginx required.

Free 2M+ installs 4.4★ (703)