How to: Restrict page view to authenticated users

WordPress allows you to make a post private, but what about static pages? Here’s a quick, clear and concise recipe to create a private page template.

If you want to make all your blog pages private, you can use the code "as it", but I recommend you to create a page template, so you can decide if the page is public or private when you'll write it in your WordPress dashboard.

If you don't know how to create and use page templates, read this recipe first.

To check if the current reader is authenticated or not, WordPress provide the is_user_logged_in() function, which will return true if user is logged in, false otherwise.

We just have to create a basic php conditional instruction and check if the user is logged in:

if (is_user_logged_in()) {
// You page code goes here
} else {
echo "You must be logged in to view this page.";
}

Insert the code above in a new page template. When you'll want to make a private page, just use this template.

20 Responses

Mark

Oct 10 2008 13:00

Nice tip. Thank you Jean!

Britalian

Oct 20 2008 11:01

Hi, very useful info on the site. I would like to know if this can be extended and use Wordpress’ user system to run a dynamic content site where users can have their own protected page, restricted only to their login?

I would like to let Wordpress manage my user logins and for them to view some content they have uploaded themselves.

This uploaded content would not be available to anyone else.

Is this possible?

jbj

Oct 20 2008 11:04

@Britalian: If you want to restrict a page to only one user, yes, this is possible. If you’re interested in this, I should write a recipe:)

Britalian

Oct 20 2008 11:07

I would be very interested in this!

I wouldn’t be looking to burden anyone to do it for me though, if possible I am looking for some pointers on how to go about it myself.

Having said that, if such a recipe were to turn up on the site, I would be more than delighted!

Web Design Glasgow

Nov 05 2008 14:21

Hi, this is interesting, but what I’d really like to know is how to set pages to ‘private’, and have those pages only show up in the navigation if the user is logged in. Is is possible to overwrite the wp_list_pages() function, or copy it with the required alterations, for use in the template, i.e. wp_list_permitted_pages()?

jbj

Nov 05 2008 14:37

Sure, it is possible to create a function to do that. I should think about it for a recipe