Putting Your Site Behind a Password
Keep a site private before launch or during a rebuild, share the password, and open it up again on launch day.
You can put a username and password in front of a whole website, so only people you give them to can see it. It is made for the stretch before a launch, for a rebuild happening in public view, or for a site that should not be found yet.
Turning it on
- Log in to the Reggio dashboard and open Websites, then the site.
- On the Overview tab, find Password Protection.
- Choose a username and a password of at least 8 characters, or press Suggest a password.
- Press Turn on the password and confirm.
It takes effect within seconds. Everyone who opens the site, on any page, is asked for the username and password before they see anything.
What it covers
- Every page, including the WordPress login. You enter the site's password first, then your WordPress login as normal.
- Search engines too. They cannot read the site while the password is on, so it will not appear on Google. That is what you want before a launch. On a live site that already gets visitors, turn it on only for as long as you need it.
What keeps working behind it
We keep running the site normally: daily backups, updates, and your security certificate all carry on. We will not send you a "site is down" alert because of the password box.
Some things outside the site do stop, because they reach it the way a visitor would. Payment providers calling back to a shop, other services sending webhooks, and uptime monitors of your own will all be refused while the password is on. Plan a shop's testing around that.
Sharing it
The username and password stay on the site's page, so anyone on your account who can manage the site can look them up later with Show password. That saves you keeping track of who you gave them to. To shut someone out, save a new password: the old one stops working straight away.
Launch day
Press Turn off the password and confirm. The site is open to everyone again within seconds. Then ask Google to take a fresh look from Search Console if you use it.
If Password Protection does not appear on your site's page, it is not available where that site is hosted. Open a ticket and we will tell you what the options are.