Sign In/Registration Workflow
Vanilla has 4 different registration methods you can choose from- Basic, Approval, Invitation and Connect.
You can however add Social Connect registration as an option when you have a basic registration.
Basic
This is the classic registration method. New users fill out a simple form and are granted access immediately. If you need additional questions in your registration form, refer to this documentation-
Approval
This option allows users to register by filling out a form, but their membership must be approved by an administrator before they are granted member status. Often, the users will have to provide the reason why they are joining the community.
After submitting the application, users will see this page:
The administrators or moderators will then have to take action with the applications received by going to the Moderation Tab as shown below. By default they will receive an email notification for each approval.
Invitation
This method only allows users to register with an invitation code. Invitation codes can be sent out by existing users. Using this will also allow you to:
- Specify the landing page when your invitees access the community for the first time.
- Indicate how long the invitation will be valid.
- Identify from your existing members who can send invitations and how many can they send.
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.
See main article to set up SSO
Social Connect
Since a lot of 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 forum using a pseudonym. Unless you want to enforce real identity, it’s a good idea to also allow the basic registration method alongside the Social Connect method.
See main article to set up Social Connect
Additional things to consider when setting up sign in/registration method:
Recaptcha:
reCAPTCHA can be enabled in your add-ons. This is used to establish that a registering user is a human, and not a bot.
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.
