Add template for password protected pages

[hanneslsm]

What problem does this address?

Currently, posts and pages that are password protected also use the template of said page when password request ist displayed.
The problem is that it is difficult to style the overall page design, it should be possible to use a different page template for when a password is required.

What is your proposed solution?

I suggest that we introduce a new template for password protected pages that is used as a default fallback template. Similar to Page:404

[Bhumit9416]

Hello everyone 👋

I believe this is a valuable enhancement to the WordPress templating system. As highlighted, using the default page template even when a password is required often leads to design inconsistencies or unnecessary layout elements (headers, footers, widgets) that don’t make sense in the context of gated content.

🔍 Problem Summary:
The password-protected content fallback (the_password_form()) is injected into the original page template.

This limits control over styling and structure.

UX-wise, the user is interacting with a login-like state, but in the context of a content page — which is confusing, especially for custom designs.

✅ Proposed Solution:
Introduce a dedicated template fallback for password-protected pages, similar to how 404.php or search.php works. This could be:

A new template file: password-protected.php

Or a template part (e.g., template-parts/password-form.html)

Possibly expose this behavior in the Site Editor via a new block-based template.

💡 Implementation Approach:
Hook into the template_include filter.

Detect if the page/post is password protected (post_password_required()).

Load a custom fallback template (if exists), else use default behavior.

php
Copy
Edit
add_filter( 'template_include', 'load_password_template', 99 );
function load_password_template( $template ) {
if ( is_singular() && post_password_required() ) {
$custom_template = locate_template( 'password-protected.php' );
if ( $custom_template ) {
return $custom_template;
}
}
return $template;
}
This implementation:

Keeps full backward compatibility.

Gives theme developers full control.

Can be extended in the future with a block-based UI in the Site Editor.

🤝 I'm Happy to Contribute:
I'd be happy to:

Submit a proof-of-concept PR with the above logic.

Help integrate this into a future Site Editor template type.

Ensure documentation and fallback compatibility with existing themes.

Please let me know if this direction aligns with the team’s vision or if there’s an existing roadmap/task I can align with.

Thanks for your work on improving the Template API — really excited about the evolution of WordPress as a true block-based CMS.

— Bhumit Mittal
Open Source Contributor | AIML Developer

[hanneslsm]

Thanks @Bhumit9416 I think your formatting is a bit off

A new template file: password-protected.php
Or a template part (e.g., template-parts/password-form.html)

I think a full template makes more sense, since a template part would only include a password form, preferably as a new dedicated password block as suggested in #70433

[Bhumit9416]

Thanks again @hanneslsm! 🙌

I appreciate the clarification. You're absolutely right — introducing a full template file like password-protected.php would provide a cleaner separation of concerns and ensure developers have full control over layout and styling, especially when tailoring UX for protected pages.

Also agree that pairing this with a dedicated Password Block (as discussed in #70433) would elevate the flexibility even further — enabling theme authors to design a much more cohesive experience using block-based templating.

Happy to explore this further or test any PR in this direction!

[im3dabasia]

Adding my two cents to this thread!

After doing some additional research, it seems that the current implementation has its roots in WordPress core, specifically in the get_the_password_form() function in wp-includes/post-template.php, where the password form overwrites the content instead of changing template resolution.

As such, the addition of a specific template like password-protected.php would likely involve changes in the WordPress core repository and might involve changes to the template hierarchy as well, which would impact Classic themes, Block themes, and Hybrid themes, and would require careful consideration of backward compatibility.

While I agree that this is a great addition from a UX and design perspective, it might be worth having a further discussion on this before proceeding with implementation.

Reference:

https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/00b3b631064adbd7abb91200624a45d6138bd8c5/src/wp-includes/post-template.php#L319-L321

https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/00b3b631064adbd7abb91200624a45d6138bd8c5/src/wp-includes/post-template.php#L1776-L1831

[carolinan]

Hi
I'm trying to understand the use case better.

You want a template that has the password form, but not the default header and footer. You can solve that by assigning a custom page template to that content. No change in core or Gutenberg is needed for that, it is just a workflow.

This is the part where I am not sure I understand correctly.
And then when the password is used successfully, you want yet another different template? That is different from the one with the form?
That is the part that is not doable today (without plugins).

I mean, you can of course place a "fake" header and footer inside the actual post content, but we can't use header and footer template parts in the post content.

[hanneslsm]

You want a template that has the password form, but not the default header and footer. You can solve that by assigning a custom page template to that content. No change in core or Gutenberg is needed for that, it is just a workflow.

Not necessarily.
Let's say I'm using a nearly empty template that has only a header and footer and included, the content is full with. I need this template to be very clean, to have the flexibility to style the content differently across different posts.
With content included that comes from the post, this will look like this:

However, when I set a password, the page doesn't look very pleasing. It would be good if I had an option to select a different template just for the password protected site, and in this template i would have a different content width, top- and bottom-padding, background color, et cetera.

[carolinan]

I think we are still misunderstanding each other.

Please explain why, when using a block theme, you can not create exactly the template you need, assign it to the post/page/cpt, and then password protect it?

[hanneslsm]

Please explain why, when using a block theme, you can not create exactly the template you need, assign it to the post/page/cpt, and then password protect it?

I can, and that's what I'm doing.
The issue is, when password protecting the page, I have no control about how the page looks like until a password was entered (see the example above: I would like to change the width, add paddings, et cetera)

I think it would be great if I could select a template that is specifically for the the "enter password" step.

[carolinan]

But then it is just about adding a wrapper? So that the form is not left aligned but aligned with the post content.
Changing the template hierarchy would be a much larger task, if contributors could even agree to do it.

[hanneslsm]

but then it is just about adding a wrapper?

Well, yes. The same as a template is basically a wrapper for the content.

So that the form is not left aligned but aligned with the post content.

On how it would be exactly aligned would be defined by the template then.
Note that the "enter password affordance" is not only the form / input field, but also the text, the "Password:" label and the button.

Changing the template hierarchy would be a much larger task, if contributors could even agree to do it.

It'd be adding another template for password protected pages the password protection form / the "enter password affordance", yes. But we know this logic from 404 for example already.

Alternatively (or additionally) I've created #70433 which would at least give the option to style the password form (and text) as a proper block.