What’s the Best Redirect Behavior for Login and Logout in Web Development?

There are a couple of main options for handling logins: either redirect to the login page with a parameter indicating the protected resource they wanted to access, or display a login form in place of the protected content until they're logged in. For logout, I think navigating back to the landing page is usually standard since users often just close the site afterward.

It really depends on the type of site you’re building. For sites where login is necessary to access content, it’s common to redirect users back to the page they were trying to view after logging in. You can set this up by adding a redirect parameter to the login URL.

A general rule of thumb is: login should take you to the dashboard, while logout should redirect to the landing page. If your application is public-facing, users typically expect to end up back on the homepage after logging out.

The best advice I can give you is to experiment! Check out how popular websites handle these situations. There’s a reason they make their choices, and you'll gain valuable intuition by observing them.

For the login process, I think going straight to the dashboard is a solid choice. When it comes to logout, redirect to the login page if it’s for an admin tool, but for regular users, sending them back to the landing page feels more natural.