Webpage Passwords

[siouxfire]

I have a client who wants a series of three pages. From the first page which is accessible to everyone, he wants the second page to be password protected so the visitor will not be able to see it until given the set password. The same applies to the third page (accessed from the second) which needs its own unique password to view. Nothing sophisticated needed, just a simple password. I'm using Dreamweaver, is there any easy way of doing this?

[anthomson]

I assume you mean using a static web-site (simple html pages uploaded to a server) in which case the answer is no - any password verification really has to be done on the server and this means you have to run some sort of server-side code (e.g. PERL or ASP). The problem with a static site is that all scripts have to run on the client and can therefore be downloaded and viewed.

[Hippy]

Nothing in this life comes free, but try the offering from CGISpy scripts. The way it works is that you set up a script on their server that your visitors use (although they would never know) and this allows them (or not) access to pages in a protected directory. If you use the "Free" version your visitors get an advert, if you register for the service, which in my opinion is worth it, then there are no ads.

Have a look at their site for more useful hosted scrips. You just set it up and embed a text script that they give you directly into your static page and hey presto!

http://www.cgispy.com/scripts/password.shtml By the way, I have no connection with this crowd except that of being a customer.

The down side to this scheme is that if a person knows the URL of your protected page then they can call it up directly unless your Web Host can make a private directory for you. Then you have the hassle of linking the password protection for that to the CGISpy thing. That is not impossible, and it works. However, it is important that you don't skip the CGI step as otherwise you will end up "hard coding" your password, either in HTML or JavaScript etc., for all to see if they investigate your page.

The trick with the CGI solution is that the verification and encryption takes place on a remote server to which the user has no access save the password input interface.

[anthomson]

Hippy's answer sounds ideal, but if you still looking for ideas and can code then maybe you could consider writing a small java applet which would prompt for a username/password and return a link to the 'hidden' pages. Although running client-side the username/password would be difficult to discover because the applet is compiled.You could also use an Active X component but this is a bit of a pain (only works on IE, needs a digital certificate etc).