Can I Hide My WordPress Site While Editing
When developing or redesigning a WordPress website, there may be times when you want to make the site inaccessible to the public. This could be for various reasons, such as maintaining privacy, restricting early access, or simply allowing more flexibility for editing and design. If you find yourself needing to hide your site quickly, there are several ways to do so. In this article, we’ll explore different methods you can use to keep your WordPress site hidden during development or modifications, ensuring that unauthorized visitors can’t access it while it’s still under construction.
Why Hide Your Site?
Now, before going further, let’s look at a few use cases that would warrant the need to hide the WordPress site:
- Privacy and Security: With the help of the tool, one can ensure that those who are not supposed to see something will not be able to view it.
- Immediate Preview:It enables you to preview your site at a personal level without third party interference.
- Client Approval:For client sites, one of the reasons for hiding the site is to shield the client from the possibility of judging a site that is not complete.
- Beta Testing:If you want to test your website, you can do so with internal test participants without actually revealing the location or existence of the site to the public.
Methods to Hide Your WordPress Site
You can hide your WordPress site while making modifications including use of passwords, and redirection.
Let’s discuss these methods suggested by wordpress web development agency:
Password Protect Your Entire Site
Another method of site concealment is to protect it with a password. This makes the website only reachable for some persons with a password.
How to Implement:
Use WordPress Built-in Feature: To do this, you need to log in to your WordPress admin panel, or as it is also called, go to the WordPress Dashboard. Go to ‘Settings’ of the application, then select ‘General’.
In turn, move the cursor to the square titled “Password Protection” and type in a password. Save changes. Another change introduced is that the unauthorized persons will be asked for a password in order to enter the given site.
Using Plugins: To strengthen the protection, one may use some plugins as iThemes Security, or WP Limit IP. These afford finer granularity of control for the site accessibility.
Restrict Access by IP Address
If you and your team are working on the site, restricting the access by IP address may become a suitable option to use. This way, only a particular system can be able to connect to the site.
How to Implement:
WP Restrict Access and Limit IP which enables a user to whitelist IPs. First of all, download the plugin that you want to use with your site and initiate it on the site. For others, visit the plugin’s settings and input the following IP addresses that should be allowed access. This means that all the other traffic, whichever they may be, will not be allowed or, at least, be rerouted.
Use a Maintenance Mode Plugin
It is a kind of an availability mode which transforms the look of a site and instead of engaging the site content to the user, they only see a ‘Please bear with us, this section is still under construction’ or any such similar message.
How to Implement:
Popular Plugins: Use plugins such as WP Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon Page & Maintenance Mode by SeedProd, or Maintenance Mode. This maintenance page can be freely adjusted to your wishes. If you enter the maintenance mode, your site will be disabled with a user-friendly page.
Redirect Visitors to a Different URL
Using .htaccess files or plugins you can easily perform redirection of your website’s users to another URL for a limited period of time.
How to Implement:
Using .htaccess File: You are to connect to your site’s root directory using FTP or with the help of your host file manager. Opening the `.htaccess` file and place the following code to its top:
“`plaintext
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} !^123\.456\.789\.000
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/wp-admin/
RewriteRule ^(.)$ http://example.com [R=302,L]
“`
Replace `123.456.789.000` to your IP address and `http://example.com` with the address where the visitors will be redirected to.
With the help of Plugins: Many plugins are available such as Redirection, Simple 404 Redirects and etc. that provide point and click methods of creating redirections.
Hide Specific Pages or Content
However, if the strategy of hiding the entire site is unnecessary, the option to make selective page or content hiding is also available.
How to Implement:
Plugins: There are plugins in WordPress that can be used to hide a particular post or page, this includes Content Control or Restrict Content Pro. The user shall install the plugin and make it live within the website. Set limitations in the plugin regarding the information that you want to make a filter to, when shared on the site.
Additional Tips
Be Careful: Before modifying the access always backup your site as this might cause a major issue to your site.
Test Thoroughly: If you have used any method of hiding, try to test it from another network or device to see whether it is working well or not.
Access to Entire Team: In such a case as when the entire team participates in the utility, everyone needs to access it.