Compatibility:

WebSite X5 Evo and Pro


You often come across websites where you don't have free access to all the sections: to be able to view the contents in certain parts of the website you need to register and obtain access credentials to enter these restricted areas. A classic example is a company site, where access to the Members' Area is reserved for salespeople and partners to view documents and price lists, or portals that require registration to access contents that can be downloaded.


WebSite X5 offers the possibility to create a members' area in your website with a number of Locked pages, and access to them is granted to Administrator and User groups.


To explain the theory, let's consider working on the website of a voluntary association that organizes various projects through a Central Coordination Team and a number of specific Committees. The institutional part of the website is open to the public, but the site also contains pages that are specific for each project, and can only be consulted by members of the committee that follow each one, and by the members of the Central Coordination team. 


Central Coordination teamProject A CommitteeProject B CommitteeProject C Committee
Member 1Member 1Member 1Member 1
Member 2Member 3Member 4Member 5
Member 6Member 7Member 8Member 9


As you can see, there are different members according to the Central Coordination Team and the different Committees, but Member 1 is part of all the groups and will need to have access to all locked pages, as this member will be the Administrator. 


In order to make our example more complete, let's assume that, in addition to the sections on each project, the association's website also includes a number of pages containing reference material that visitors can only consult after they have registered on the website.


These are the crucial steps to create a voluntary association website with the above reported features:


When the website is published on the Internet, each time a visitor tries to display a Locked page he will be asked to enter his e-mail and password. If these parameters are entered correctly, the Locked page will be displayed. 


#tip - Login & Logout. Users can access locked pages by using the Login & Logout Object you can add on the header or in the desired pages.


Warning:

  • In order for the Members' Area to work properly, please make sure the Server you will export your website on supports both PHP programming language  and the sessions. You can get more information about these aspects in the WebSite Test area on the online Control Panel and, if you are using the Pro edition, on the WebSite X5 Manager App.
  • If you are using the Pro edition and you want to set up the Automatic User Registration, you will need to use MySQL Databases.
  • Locked pages are displayed without any previous login on the local preview: the Members' Area is in fact activated only after the website is published on server.


#tip - Database and project export. If you decide to export your website using the Webspace offered by WebSite X5, you don't have to do anything: the database and server connection parameters are already integrated. If, on the other hand, you choose another Provider, you will need to report them manually. Please see: How to export your website using a Hosting Service different from the one included with WebSite X5.