How to Use Maintenance Mode Plugin as Coming Soon Announcement

There are times when you need to blackout your entire blog, allowing access to administrators only. This article discusses some of the reasons and predicaments that make the Maintenance Mode plugin so useful. I'll give you information to create your own custom page for a 'coming soon' or launch type announcement. You can use these instructions to personalize the default  'back in 6o minutes' page that comes with the plugin.

Why Would I Want To Hide Blog Content?

As blog owners or consultants, 'dig we must' ---  to maintain the underpinnings of our blogs. We routinely upgrade themes, WordPress and plugins. But sometimes 'maintenance' is anything but 'routine.'  There are three basic scenarios that may warrant a message to all visitors when the site is having a very 'bad hair day.'

1. An upgrade or plugin installs 'successfully', but when you view the blog, you see extraneous text (html, php code) and/or error messages you never heard of. Nothing less pleasant than that. Don't panic! Switch to maintenance mode and tell readers to come back in an hour.
2. You use a framework-type design theme like Thesis or Frugal. No doubt you get a knot in your stomach whenever there is an upgrade announcement. You've make dozens of customizations and fear the site will be garbled in the process of upgrading. Don't panic --- activate your maintenance mode and start scrambling for that custom code.
3. You have a new hosting account and plan to move an existing blog or create a brand new one for your client.  You don't want anyone who knows or stumbles on the domain name to be able to see an incomplete site. Talk about a bad first impression. You want them to know the site is under renovation or soon to be launched. Don't panic, create a custom launch page and activate the maintenance mode plugin. If you client or someone you trust needs to see the site  during development, just give them administrator access.

Maintenance Mode Plugin - the Basics

Activating/Deactivating

When you install and activate the WP plugin for Maintenance Mode,  you can easily turn blocked access on and off. Use the Settings section on your WP Dashboard to quickly adjust the mode.

Settings to Block Access

On the same page, you can modify the basic message to include your blog's name, url and how long the blackout will last. For this basic message, only Html is allowed --- no PHP. Here's a sample of the basic default:

The default splash screen

You'll see a warning at the top of the dashboard reminding you to turn off the block when all is well again.

Granting Access

By default, only administrators have access when maintenance mode is on. But you can grant access to others such as a Contributor or Editor, by using the Role Manager plugin. Those with access don't see the splash page and therefore have access to all capabilities defined for that role. The plugins accomplish this by allowing the new capability 'access_on_maintenance' to be turned on for different roles.

Beyond the Basics - Use the 503.php page

The way the plugin controls access is by using a standard host message type:

503 Service Temporarily Unavailable

Similar to the 404Page Not Found error, blog owners and template developers can customize the 503 page for service interruptions.  The Maintenance Mode plugin has an option to use your theme's 503.php instead of the basic message described above.

use custom maintenance page

So this is your opportunity to modify the page as you please. Except you can't use WP theme functions like 'get_sidebar().'

How to customize the 5o3.php

1. To compose your custom message, create a new temporary page or post . Remember it will be on a plain screen, no sidebars or footer.  Here's one I composed:

custom splash page

2. When you're satisfied with the page, view and copy the Html which you'll need for the next step.

3. To open the theme's 503.php, press Editor under Appearance on the Dashboard. Paste your custom message  (step 2) after the < body > and before the < /body > tags. Save the file. Delete the temporary page or post you used.

Find your theme's 503.php

You're now ready to activate maintenance mode. Test it by logging out of WP or opening a different type of browser to see the splash screen!

Have you used this handy plugin?  If not, how do you handle situations when your blog has unexpected appearance or functional problems after an innocent modification?