New Sliding AJAX Login Panel Plugin for BuddyPress

This is a fun new plugin that delivers a fancy, smooth AJAX login experience for BuddyPress users. It also includes an account center with a full user menu. I put this plugin together based on the iRedlof Ajax Login by Rohit LalChandani but have completely re-worked it for use with BuddyPress. The plugin adds a tab to the top of the page to pull down a panel where the user can login. I wrote in a BuddyPress profile and account preview center for logged in users where they’ll be able to check out a teaser of their new messages and friend requests as well as navigate to other areas of the site.

The panel as it appears for Logged Out users:

The panel for Logged In Users with No Messages/Requests:

The panel for Logged in Users with Messages/Requests:

BuddyPress Sliding Login Panel Plugin Features:

• Logged Out Users: The panel displays a welcome message, link to registration, password retrieval, and an AJAX login form.
• Logged In Users: The panel displays a total of two new messages with links to the inbox, the user’s current avatar and option to change it, a list of links to the most commonly-used BuddyPress components, and a preview of the user’s friend requests.

How to Install:

1. Upload the plugin to the plugins directory.
2. Activate the plugin.
3. Add the this tag right after your < body > tag in the header.php file of your BuddyPress child theme:

   <?php if(function_exists(updateHeader)) updateHeader(); ?>
   

4. Disable the BuddyPress Admin Bar by adding this to your wp-config.php file:

   define( 'BP_DISABLE_ADMIN_BAR', true );
   

This plugin has no options after you install it, which is simply because I haven’t yet learned to add in option pages for plugins. As soon as I have the time to figure that out, I hope to make it much easier for users to customize without having to edit php files. For now, if you want to change the welcome paragraph or any of the links, most everything can be found in the update-content.php file. You can also edit the CSS file included to make the plugin fit your site’s design better. More than likely you will want to update the logo. The easiest way to do that would be to name your file logo.png and overwrite the the same file in the images folder.

Download BuddyPress Sliding Login Panel:

You can download this plugin for free here. As soon as it’s approved for the WordPress repository, you’ll be able to find it there as well.

If you catch any bugs or notice any issues with the plugin, please let me know. Also, if you find more efficient ways to do what I’ve written, feel free to make suggestions. Any tips from other plugin devs are much appreciated. I hope you enjoy this plugin and let me know where you’re using it and how you’ve customized it further!

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