What options are there to allow users who have not logged in to see content on the home page?

Question

I have a site where users must log in to access content. For the home page, I'd like these anonymous users to be able to view this content and the login box. Below are the ways I have done this in the past, but I'm looking for comments on how others may do this. Especially for ways that it could be done without touching templates or code.

• Modify page-front.tpl.php when a user is not logged in. This allows me to remove the "Access denied message"
• Create a block that is displayed on the home page for anonymous users. However, this still displays the "Access denied message"
• Implement Taxonomy access and have a term that allows anonymous access. This would eliminate the "Access denied message"

Are there other better methods to do this with as little code as possible? What is the best way?

Thanks.

Answer 1

What kind of permission module are you using ? Is it possible you implement yourself these permission ?

I would restrict node access to anonymous user using a custom module implementing hook_node_access() and allow them to see the nodes on the front page (using the function drupal_is_front_page()):

function MYMODULE_node_access($node, $op, $account) {
  if ($op == 'view' && $account->uid == 0) {
    if (drupal_is_front_page()) {
      return NODE_ACCESS_ALLOW;
    } else {
      return NODE_ACCESS_DENY;
    }
  }
  return NODE_ACCESS_IGNORE;
}

Answer 2

You could use frontpage to set different front pages for anonymous, and authenticated visitors.