Knowledgebase

Yes. EverWeb has two ways to keep pages private. Simple Password protects a section of your website with usernames and passwords you create, and is included with EverWeb + Hosting. Membership Sites lets visitors sign up for their own login, and pay for a subscription if you like. It's a separate add-on, and it works on EverWeb + Hosting or on another host that supports PHP.

Which one do I need?

Protect a section with Simple Password

Before you start: you need EverWeb + Hosting, and your website must publish to your EverWeb + Hosting account. Simple Password only works on directories. A directory is a page that holds other pages, like a folder.

1. Click Add Directory in the toolbar, choose a design, and name the directory (for example Members).
2. Put the pages you want to protect inside it. Select the directory and click Add Page, or drag an existing page a little under and to the right of the directory.
3. Click the directory once in the list of pages on the left.
4. Go to Inspector > Page Settings (the first icon) and open the Password Protection section.
5. Click Simple Password.
6. Click Add. EverWeb reminds you that password protection only works with EverWeb + Hosting accounts. That's a reminder, not an error: click OK.
7. A new row appears. Type your own username and password over the example ones. Click Add again for each person or group.
8. Go to File > Publish Entire Site.
9. Open the directory's page in a private browser window. Your browser should ask for a username and password.

Usernames must all be different, and usernames and passwords can't contain single quotes ('). They are case sensitive, so Members and members are different. You can add as many as you need.

What Simple Password protects, and what it doesn't

• It protects the directory's page and every page inside it, on your published website.
• It doesn't work in Preview, or when you publish to a folder or to another host. Test it on your live website.
• Pictures and files aren't protected. Pictures, and files you link to such as PDFs, are kept in shared folders on your website, not inside the directory. Anyone who has a file's direct address can open it without a password, so don't rely on Simple Password for confidential documents.
• Your menu still shows the pages. Protected pages stay in your navigation menu, and visitors who click them get the sign-in box. To hide one, untick Include page in navigation menu in Inspector > Page Settings.
• Mobile Pages need care. If a public page sends phones to a separate Mobile Page, and that Mobile Page is inside the protected directory, phone visitors are asked for a password. Keep Mobile Pages for public pages outside the directory.
• The sign-in box is your visitor's browser's own. There's no sign-out button or "forgot password" link, and some phones, especially iPhones, may ask again when moving between pages. To change a password, change it in EverWeb and publish again. If you need member accounts, use Membership Sites.

Remove the password

1. Select the directory, then go to Inspector > Page Settings > Password Protection > Simple Password.
2. Click a row, then click Remove. Repeat for every row.
3. Go to File > Publish Entire Site. Publish sends only what changed. Publish Entire Site sends every page again, which makes sure the protection is removed.
4. Check in a private browser window.

If the password box still appears, open a support ticket with the page's address. Old protection files may still be on the server, and we can clear them.

Publishing to another host?

Simple Password doesn't work there. Use Membership Sites (below), or ask your hosting company whether they can password protect the folder in their control panel. The folder on your website has the same name as the directory in EverWeb.

Members-only pages and subscriptions with Membership Sites

Membership Sites gives each member their own login. Visitors sign up, pay if your membership costs money, log in, and see only the pages their membership level allows. You manage members and payments in your EverWeb account page (the Client Area).

Stripe charges its own fees too. You need one Membership Sites license for each website with a members area.

How it works, in short:

1. Buy Membership Sites in the Client Area, then set up your Stripe account and membership levels there.
2. Add the Membership widgets to EverWeb and build your sign up, payment and login pages.
3. For each members-only page, go to Inspector > Page Settings > Password Protection, click Memberships, choose your Membership Sites license, and tick the levels that may see the page.
4. Go to File > Publish Entire Site and test in a private window. Members-only pages are only protected on your published website, not in Preview.

If you host somewhere other than EverWeb, your host needs to support PHP. We recommend PHP 8.2 or later.

For the full setup, see Members-only pages, logins and paid subscriptions: EverWeb Membership Sites.

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