Does this help at all: I have an app where every page has various edit links like <dtml-if "AUTHENTICATED_USER.has_role(['Manager'])"> <a href="manage_main">edit</a> </dtml-if> and, in the page footer I have <dtml-if expr="AUTHENTICATED_USER.name == 'Anonymous User'"> <a href="login">login/edit..</a> <dtml-else> Logged in as: <!--#var AUTHENTICATED_USER --> </dtml-if> Ie if they are anonymous, they see a login link; once logged in they see edit links. Or, just make the edit link always visible and it will force a login if it needs to.