Higher Logic Vanilla (Vanilla) has four registration methods:
- Basic
- Approval
- Invitation
- Connect
In this article, we'll explain each method so you can decide which works best for your Vanilla community.
Manage your registration method
- Access the Dashboard.
- Navigate to Settings > Membership > Registration.
- Select a method and click Save.
📝 NOTE: You can add Social Connect registration as an option when you have a Basic registration.
Basic
This is the classic registration method.
- After completing a simple form, new users are granted access immediately. If you want additional questions in your registration form, check out the article below.
Approval
Users must complete a registration form, and then their membership must be approved by an Administrator before they're granted access. Often, the users will have to provide the reason why they are joining the community.
After users submit their application, the Thank You! page displays.
📝 NOTE: When using the Approval method, toggle the Require users to confirm their email address option OFF. These two features should not be used together.
Manage applications
All applications are stored in a queue where an Administrator or Moderator can decide whether to approve or deny them.
To manage registration applications:
- Access the Dashboard.
- Navigate to Moderation > Requests > Applicants.
- Click the appropriate icon to either approve or deny an application.
📝 NOTE: By default, users will receive an email notification if approved.
Invitation
With this method, users can only register with an invitation code, which can be sent out by existing users belonging to the Roles you allow.
Upon selecting the Invitation method, additional fields appear you must configure:
- Invitation target: Users will be redirected to this URL after accepting an invitation. It can be a full URL or a path to redirect within the site.
- Invitations will expire: Indicate how long the invitation will be valid. You can select Never, 1 week, 2 weeks, or 1 month after being sent.
- Choose who can send out invitations to new members: Your community's Roles are listed; for each, select whether it can send invitations, and if so, how many per month.
Connect
New users are only registered through SSO plugins. This process completely transfers the handling of new user registration from Vanilla to the forum/community owner.
If your website or web-app requires registration, it can be frustrating to have to register a second time to access the forum. SSO allows users to register and sign in using their existing login. SSO can be implemented to provide a seamless experience where the user doesn’t notice that they are, in fact, leaving one site and logging into another. SSO allows you to pass all user profile information, including email and profile picture. It will even import the member’s Rank and Role.
Learn more
Social Connect
Because most people either have a Facebook, Twitter, Google, Steam, or LinkedIn account, using those accounts to register can be a very convenient option. The downside is that these services are usually tied to a person’s real identity, and some people prefer to register to a community using a pseudonym.
✔️ TIP: Because of this--unless you want to enforce real identity--it’s a good idea to also allow the Basic registration method along with the Social Connect method.
Learn more
Additional considerations when setting up sign in/registration method
Recaptcha
To help ensure those registering are humans, not bots, you can enable reCAPTCHA in your addons.
Confirm emails
Don't forget to enable email confirmation to require users to confirm their email address after registration. When email confirmation is enabled and new users have not confirmed their email yet, they will fall into the "Unconfirmed" Role. Once they have confirmed their email, they will be automatically reassigned to the "Member" Role.
Additional resources
Click the link below to access a video expanding on what you learned in this article.
