How to customize and simplify your login page.

The WordPress login page is pretty clean and is easy to use. The only real problem is that it looks very plain. It is also essentially the same on all sites. If this doesn’t bother you then fine you don’t have to change a thing. However there are a couple reason you might want to customize it:
• You simply want the login page to match your website style. Personal preference.
• You are building a site for a client. The custom login can be a nice value add, that takes little effort.
• If you allow people to register with your blog. A custom login will look more impressive and professional Changing the login page on your site is actually a pretty simple step and can be accomplished with the aid of a plugin:

Custom Login

When you add the plugin, there will be a new menu item under Settings. Click this new item, “Custom Login”, to start the process to customize your login page.

Once you click that a page will appear with a bunch of different panes. We will break down each area of the page now…
On the right hand side of the page you will see 3 panes of information. These are basically just links to information about the plugin and plugin author. There is also a donate link.
On the bottom is the only really useful link, which will allow you to preview your custom login page before you go live.
On the top of the left side of the page, you will see the above panes. The top one includes a checkbox to take your changes live. The one underneath seems to just be announcements from the plugin designer. I actually close this pane (small arrow on top left of grey bar) and ignore it.

This pane directly below the last two are where you can make the changes to your login page. Most of the fields are self explanatory. You can upload logos and background images, as well as choose colors for certain aspects.
The fields that prompt you for colors, will open a color palette that makes it easy to choose the colors. You simply make the changes you want, and then you are basically done. There is a pane beneath this one for custom CSS and HTML, and under that another announcement window you can ignore. Once you are done, simply check the activate box from earlier, and look at the bottom of the page for the Update Settings button and click that.

The login in page on WordPress is pretty plain. If you allow multiple users to log into your site, you might want to think about simplifying the URL and adding your own branding to the page.