Jan
08

Customizing your install: Login & Favicon

Posted by Andrea under Plugins

In a continuing series of posts, we’ll explore what you, the site admin, can do to your MU install to create a customized experience for your user. It is important to make some visual changes to attract users, give them a reason to use your site, and to create a better experience for them. In a bigger sense, this is one small but important element in branding your entire site.

We’ll focus on Binary Moon’s Custom Login plugin. Originally the plugin was developed as a way for web developers installing Wordpress for clients to brand their installs. Same applies for MU, really. While it works in the regular plugins folder in MU, and you can edit a core file to turn it on automatically for each new blog, it also works in the mu-plugins folder. Just edit the file to point to the mu-plugins folder instead.

Since it is a small, lightweight plugin, it doesn’t add much to the overall load. Instead of having it in a subfolder, there are so few files - 2 I think, and an image folder with 2 files- you can just place them right in mu-plugins.

Before you do all that, take a look at the graphic files included with the plugin. Edit those as needed to match the look of your site. I find it quite nice if it matches the main theme on the main blog.

Some examples:
- HSJ
- Mommieblogs (in production)

Note how in the second, the included css file has been tweaked to override the default stylesheet to better match the graphics. Also take a look at both site’s main page to see how the login better matches the look and feel.

While you are visiting both places, notice how the favicon matches each site, and is not the default MU character. You can edit any graphic logo that matches (or create one), making sure it is 16 by 16 pixels. You can even use a favicon generator. Name it favicon.ico and place in your root folder, overwriting the one that is there.

These are two small easy changes that once implemented, have given you an edge above the others.

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3 Responses to “Customizing your install: Login & Favicon”

  1. Marcus Oliveira Says:
    January 9th, 2008 at 10:54 pm

    Huun, good ideia! but which core file should i edit and what exactly should i edit there to make it work automatically?
  2. Greg Says:
    March 27th, 2008 at 11:24 am

    Marcus

    I just placed it in my mu-plugins directory and corrected the path in the php file. Worked a treat
  3. Joeby Says:
    April 1st, 2008 at 8:43 pm

    Hmmm…

    I had this installed and working fine… on my mu install then, made a bonehead move and lost everything yesterday… No, it’s not an April fools joke…

    Today I went to redownload the plugin and it looks different to me… Maybe a new version for 2.5? In any event… Now I can’t seem to get it working…

    Any ideas?

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