Community Support Forums

Hi,

I'm testing out S2Member for a simple application (for now) of protecting a few pages of content behind an opt-in wall. Once a member registers, they get access to the content.

I'd like to keep registration and login on standard, themed pages. Looks like that's not possible (or at least not easy enough for me) using the free plugin. But before purchasing Pro I want to confirm it'll work.

From the FAQs page:

How can I allow Free Registration?
s2Member Pro comes with Pro Form Generators for PayPal® Pro and Authorize.Net® integrations. You can generate a Pro Form for Free Registration. This allows you to bypass the default registration system used by the free version of s2Member. This particular Pro Form ( e.g. a Free Registration Form ) does NOT require you to have a PayPal® or Authorize.Net® account. You can use it anywhere you like. Another nice thing about this Free Registration Form, is that you can insert it with a Shortcode into any Post/Page you like, and you can do this without enabling Open Registration on a site wide basis. For site owners that want to open the door for Free Registration based on certain criteria, you could integrate s2Member's Free Registration Form into a Post/Page, and then wrap your Shortcode with PHP Conditional tags. With this advanced technique, you could authenticate visitors ( i.e. free registrants ) in very custom ways.

So this makes it sound like I can set up my opt-in page with my copy and a video, and at the bottom of the page content add a shortcode to insert the registration form. Is this correct? If so, where will the user be sent after submitting the form? Can I choose that forwarding page?

Then, will I be able to do something similar for login? Is there also a shortcode for inserting the login form into any page, so I can set up a custom login page with a link from the main nav bar? And if so, would logging in on that custom page forward the user to the Login Welcome Page as in the free version of the plugin?

Thanks for clarifying. I hope my application is simple enough (no need for passing data to/from payment gateways) that it works this way.

Fingers crossed...

Yes, you can do what you described.

The Free Registration Pro-Form can be added to any page with the shortcode. WP Admin -> s2Member -> PayPal Pro-Forms -> Free Registration

You can set a redirection URL with the success attribute for the shortcode. WP Admin -> s2Member -> PayPal Pro-Forms -> Shortcode Attributes (Explained)

The Pro Login Widget can also be added to a page with a shortcode. WP Admin -> s2Member -> API / Scripting -> Pro Login Widget

And after successful login the person will be shown the welcome page you specified. WP Admin -> s2Member -> General Options -> Login Welcome Page

You can uncross your fingers now.

Thank you Cristián!

From reading other posts, it seems best to wait for the new version in the next few days. (I need the MailChimp integration to work well.)

Meanwhile, I've been exploring other options. Currently testing Gravity Forms with the MailChimp and User Registration add-ons, in conjunction with the Members plugin for content restriction.

Do you have any thoughts on pros/cons of this setup versus S2Member Pro for such simple requirements as mine? S2 seems a bit formidable for my purposes, and I don't expect to need to "grow into it."

Thanks in advance for any thoughts you (or others) might have.

s2Member has several features to cover many scenarios, but one doesn't have to use them all, or even many. It seems more comfortable needing only one plugin over three, too, and less likely to have a conflict in the future, though.

I'm not really familiar with those other plugins, so I won't be of much help commenting on them. Let me know how you find them to work for you if you try them.