Password-protecting a personal site

[Kanerou]

Is this possible? And how could I do it in HTML?

OK, maybe I should clarify. I'm considering having a site for myself that only certain people can access, since my dad's really iffy about my having anything public. If I were to insert something into the HTML that would require a password, we'd both be happy. And I'm definitely a beginner as far as HTML goes (learned some basic stuff years ago and forgot it, it seems).

[glitch1501]

.htaccess is where its at


here is a pretty good tutorial on how to implement it
http://www.g4tv.com/screensavers/features/40416/PasswordProtect_Your_Website.html
good luck

[Slater]

gah, that site has HTF ads...

Anyhow, I was kinda wondering some of these things. I definitly wouldn't use Java to password protect anything important, but htaccess seems pretty good

[Kanerou]

Thanks. Um, how does one figure out what server they're on? And if I use a site from, say, Netscape or Yahoo, can I still do this?

[TurkishMonky]

i used ASP.net forms protection with a sql database of users and roles... if you aren't afraid of getting your hands a little dirty, and can get a site that uses asp.net 2.0, i could give you some pointers that way - it's not very hard (but i haven't done any other way )

[Mithrandir]

Hmm... Your run of the mill free sites don't make it easy to password protect things. Obviously you can do it with PHP and MySQL (like we do here) and there are many other ways to do it much more securely. If you can get .htaccess access to your site, you'd add a directory that requres some username/password and that's that. If you do get that far, though, you'll wanna pick a password that's hard to guess. In any event, I wouldn't store much in the way of "secure" information on a site like that. It's generally too easy to hack them.

If you don't have that kind of access, see if you have CGI access. If so, you can get "psudo-secure (RTM)" with your data by simply requiring a certain token to be set via a login procedure on the site. It's a little tricky, but I think it would be easier for a beginning HTML programmer than, say, learning asp.net roles.

[Kanerou]

OK. Thanks for your help, guys! And I'll try to remember that if I end up doing that, Turkish Monkey.