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Custom Wp-signup.php

Ok I have been looking all weekend and I can not find a step by step process.

The signup page uses the home page theme and it is rather annoying.

so I would either like to make the theme change or I would like to make my own page with the signup form inside.

something like this: http://www.wix.com/ would also be cool.

Step by step instructions would be fantastic because all I read is make a page template…yes umm no. but. maybe. err.

I have a plugin for putting a user registrator on a page, so can I not just do this for a blog sign up?

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 8:34:16
  • Timothy
    • Chief Pigeon

    Hey there.

    You could target all those elements on the page with some CSS if you’re looking to change the style.

    If creating a template and using the sign up function is hard to follow then it might much quicker for you to use a plugin like Gravity Forms or Formidable Pro.

    They allow you to create signup forms and I believe BuddyPress is also supported.

    http://gravityforms.com

    http://formidablepro.com

    And again if needed target the page with some custom CSS.

    Take care.

  • Timothy
    • Chief Pigeon

    I have a cool app which means I can edit the css easy.

    CSSEdit? Or similar?

    That ones pretty cool.

    but… how do I make the wp-signup.php page take the full page template as appose to the home page template in css.

    When you say “full page template” do you mean like full width of the theme?

    It’s on your homepage now?

    Just trying to full understand. :slight_smile:

    Take care.

  • bonmaklad
    • The Crimson Coder

    which one would you recommend Tim?

    I think I would rather build something custom into the pages so it’s easier for customers to sign up

    I might also get rid of the facebook stuff signup as it’s confusing users and not 100% working

  • Fullworks
    • The Bug Hunter

    OK so I assume that you put have custom-wpsignup.php in wp-content.

    Then what I do is add a body class in there using the wordpress hooks and function

    function startup_body_class () {
    
// add 'class-name' to the $classes array
    
$classes[] = 'startuppage';
    
// return the $classes array
    
return $classes;
    
}
    
add_filter('body_class', 'startup_body_class');

    so now you can do things specifically for instance hide that big header (class container e.g.

    body.startuppage .container {
    
display: none; }

    of course you need a custom signup page css so I add

    function customsignup_add_stylesheet() {
    
// Respects SSL,  to the current file
    
wp_register_style( 'customsignup-style', content_url('customsignup-style.css', __FILE__) );
    
wp_enqueue_style( 'customsignup-style' );
    
}
    
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'customsignup_add_stylesheet' );

    to my custom wpsignup.php and now I’m off rocking

    is that the sort of thing you mean see it on http://llocally.com

    Wouldn’t take much more to style it as a pop up once you have a custom signup csss, on then stick the page as an iframe into a lightbox.

    I might do that.

  • bonmaklad
    • The Crimson Coder

    Roibot I love the clear and simple approach to your website I am trying to do something similar here http://www.ezywebsites.co.nz but need to finish shopezy first.

    so:

    Step 1 – create ‘signup.php’

    Step 2 – copy the code from wp-signup.php into signup.php

    Step 3 – place the following into signup.php

    function startup_body_class () {

    // add ‘class-name’ to the $classes array

    $classes[] = ‘startuppage’;

    // return the $classes array

    return $classes;

    }

    add_filter(‘body_class’, ‘startup_body_class’:wink:;

    body.startuppage .container {

    display: none; }

    function customsignup_add_stylesheet() {

    // Respects SSL, to the current file

    wp_register_style( ‘customsignup-style’, content_url(‘customsignup-style.css’, __FILE__) );

    wp_enqueue_style( ‘customsignup-style’ );

    }

    add_action( ‘wp_enqueue_scripts’, ‘customsignup_add_stylesheet’ );

  • bonmaklad
    • The Crimson Coder

    so with my plugin for changing the sign ups. I just do

    step 1 – add to plugin:

    body.startuppage .container {

    display: none; }

    function customsignup_add_stylesheet() {

    // Respects SSL, to the current file

    wp_register_style( ‘customsignup-style’, content_url(‘customsignup-style.css’, __FILE__) );

    wp_enqueue_style( ‘customsignup-style’ );

    }

    add_action( ‘wp_enqueue_scripts’, ‘customsignup_add_stylesheet’ );

    thats it.

    sorry I am not a developer so have just been learning off the bat

  • Fullworks
    • The Bug Hunter

    Sorry, I had jumped far ahead in my technical discussion, having perhaps assumed you had a bit more developer knowledge.

    I am more than happy to help you, but I need to step back and understand where you are at.

    First question, you say ” I have a plugin for putting a user registrator on a page, so can I not just do this for a blog sign up?”

    Which plugin is this? Can I find it on WordPress Plugin Directories, so I can take a look

  • Gabe
    • The Bug Hunter

    Tom and ROIBOT have offered some pretty good solutions. Here’s the way that I’ve done it:

    I wanted to alter the signup page without modifying or adding anything to the root, so I copied the wp-signup.php to my theme folder and told WordPress to use that page instead. The following code will do that for you:

    RewriteEngine On
    
RewriteBase /
    
RewriteRule ^wp-signup.php(.*)$ wp-content/themes/[theme name]/wp-signup.php$1
    
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]

    To modify the Pro Sites plugin files like Remove Email Verification, Set Blog Description, etc. I did the same thing. This way, your WP core and plugin files are unchanged yet you can still customize it to your needs.

    My signup page is heavily customized with some best practices, which this setup (as well as those mentioned by Tom and ROIBOT) allow you to do.

    For example, to increase conversions you should remove any distractions, case in point my signup page is essentially a landing page with the signup form embedded. It should also ask for only the necessary information. I got rid of some of the default questions and added only the essential stuff that would make the customer’s work easy later…like choosing a slogan, password and template.

    Attached are some screenshots from my dev server from an earlier version of the signup pages. I made the screenshots generic, but you can see what I’m getting at. There are no headers or footers on the page, just a logo with a link to the home page. Even that isn’t necessary, but by showing my logo it gives the user a consistent experience with my brand.

    Try to make the form engaging, but as simple as possible. I cut down and simplified some of the signup text as well–it was too wordy. It should be clear and concise. For example, I made the Terms of Service a link rather than embedding the whole document. I want them to agree to it, but it seemed unnecessary to display it on the page as the plugin does by default, so I just added a link to it. The link could be to a JS popup or to a new window.

    A caveat: Look at as many examples as possible, but understand that high converting signup pages were tuned based on data for a company’s specific business model and goals and may not work for you. For example on the second page you’ll see the ability to choose a template (only one included in the example for brevity). I include this for a specific reason, but it may reduce conversions for many others. If you ask customers to make choices, it’ll definitely reduce your conversions. Whether you do or not depends on your business model. If you allow customers to change themes freely, then set a default theme and let them choose/customize later–you need to focus on getting the signup.

    Some of this stuff may seem silly, but you’d be surprised how many signups are given away for unnecessary stuff. Think about it, only a certain percentage of people are in the market for your service, only a percentage of those will ever make it to your website, a percentage of those will decide to stay and look around, a percentage of those will decide to sign up or try you out…by now we’re at some stupid number like .0001% so it’d be silly to lose them now. Ya dig?

    So A/B testing matters to optimize conversions, but only at a certain point. For example, if you’re only getting a handful of visitors, then you best focus on getting traffic first…then focus on optimizing for that traffic because optimizing to get a .5% higher conversion rate out of your 15 visitors a week is a horrible ROI. Hope this helps.

    [attachments are only viewable by logged-in members] [attachments are only viewable by logged-in members]

  • Gabe
    • The Bug Hunter

    so you still do it in a two step process?

    I am not a fan of two step but I agree that It should be more blank.

    I like the two step process because it’s broken into small chucks. The longer the form the more intimidating it seems even if it’s not too bad, people are just more likely to hit the back button…particularly if they’re already on the fence about your service.

    It’s a one step process if the user already had an account, for example if they subscribe to your mailing list to get a free gift or something it’d become a one step process…the first page is essentially just account creation.

    If you want, you could still put everything on one page with some custom coding, I just opted not to.

    As Timothy mentioned Gravity Forms and Formidable Forms work, I have both, but just opted not to use them on this project for signup…I use them elsewhere on the website however. Hope this helps.