At last! My sidebar login widget has evolved into ‘Sidebar Login’ which has both a widget and a template tag to allow you to have a login form in the sidebar of your wordpress powered blog.
It lets users login, and then redirects them back to the page they logged in from rather than the backend, it also shows error messages. Read more for more information and the download link.
Sidebar Login
Sidebar login is self explanatory really; it allows users to login to wordpress from the sidebar! This plugin requires wordpress 2.6 (that is all I have tested) in order to function; this is because wordpress 2.6 has a modified login system to older versions.
Screenshots

Login Form

Logged in
Change Log
You can track changes to the plugin in the wordpress plugin SVN.
Get it now!
You can get the latest version from the wordpress plugin database; Download it here!
Installation Instructions
- Unzip and upload the php file to your wordpress plugin directory
- Activate the plugin
- For a sidebar widget: Goto the design > widgets tab - Drag the widget into a sidebar and save!
- To use the template tag: Add
<?php sidebarlogin(); ?>to your template.
License
Wordpress Sidebar Login © Copyright 2008-current. Mike Jolley
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
optimised
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
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64 - Pibzz says:
Hello, great witget, I just installed it to my updated wordpress. I have just one problem… register didn’t show. Do you have any idea why is that ?
Comment made on September 17, 2008 at 10:18 pm
65 - Pibzz says:
I fix it…
Thanks for the widget
Comment made on September 17, 2008 at 10:25 pm
66 - Missy says:
I still cant get the login working on Chrome or FF. IE is ok 7 and 8.
In chrome and FF the traditional login screen (wp-login.php) works. I can login and out using it.
The side-bar login changes to the links (Dashboard, Profile, and Logout) once I log-in using Chrome/FF.
So Wordpress via Chrome/FF recognizes I am logged in, but I can not use the logout link. I have to go back to the original log-in screen on wp-login.php to fully logout.
I’m guessing like Marcelo said above it’s a cookie issue and just to be sure its not my system I did purge all cookies and refreshed…
I know next to nothing about cookies, so any help would be appreciated.
Comment made on September 19, 2008 at 6:26 am
67 - Mike Jolley says:
@Marcelo & Missy - Nothing is stored in the database and it does not store any variables through wordpress. In fact, it uses virtually the same login code as wordpress does. I’m wondering whether or not it could be cache related… I guess the only way to tell would be to add a line of code in the sidebar form output that shows the time/date that way you would know if it was being updated or showing a cached version. Other than that..im not sure still. Some people have problems, others do not.
Comment made on September 21, 2008 at 1:53 am
68 - Rob K says:
I am having an issue when logging in using the sidebar login widget. Whenever I log in, I enter an appropriate username and password and click ‘Log In’ at this point the fields clear and it appears as if you are not logged in and must re-enter the information. However, you are actually logged in. If you click on Log In a second time, (even though the fields are blank)it will show the correct Welcome ‘username’ (appearing as it should).
This happens in both Firefox and IE 6.
I am using Wordpress 2.6.0 and sidebar login 2.1.2
I have disabled all plugins and still get the same results.
Any help would be appreciated, Thank you.
Comment made on September 23, 2008 at 1:40 am
69 - Missy says:
Ok after reading the comment above, I tried clicking the login button twice as above…
Sure enough the login box changed and showed the correct Welcome ‘username’ (appearing as it should).
This was true in Chrome and FF for me.
So my issue is the same as above.
Comment made on September 23, 2008 at 12:52 pm
70 - Enrique Pascual says:
hello! i used this plugin, wonderfull plugin, i love it!!! but i wan’t change something, is there any way to change de message welcome “username” for welcome “first_name”, i want do this because in my blog the username is the e-mail of the person, so when this message appears my sidebar doesn’t show aligned, i allready try change this but i couldn’t do it, if any one know some thing i appreaciate let me know!!! thanks so much!!! and sorry my english, i speak spanish.
Comment made on September 23, 2008 at 9:49 pm
71 - Simple customization of Wordpress Sidebar Login Plugin | superfancy says:
[...] thanks to Mike Jolley and his excellent Sidebar Login [...]
Pingback made on September 27, 2008 at 6:13 pm
72 - Michael Hainsworth says:
AH-HAH! I, too, have a problem with “Logout” logging out a visitor but the widget reflecting they’re still logged in (just displaying “Welcome”).
BUT!
Once I disabled the Lester Chan poll plugin, the login worked.
DAMN. Now I have to figure out how to get the two to play nice. Any tips?
Comment made on September 29, 2008 at 2:41 pm
73 - Dusan says:
Hey guys. There is a conflict between sidebar-login and Lester ‘GaMerZ’ Chan plugins (such are wp-postratings, wp-polls etc). I had same problem as other people described, but after disabling wp-postratings - sidebalogin work!
Mike, can this be somehow fixed?
Regards,
Dusan
Comment made on October 10, 2008 at 9:16 pm