Web Page Security

[Scooby62]

Hi There.

I'm wondering how I can password protect a web page on my website. I'm using FrontPage(crap) and my server keeps saying it doesn't support FrontPage file extension.

What I'm trying to do is put some pictures on one page but I want to protect them from everyone except family and friends. All I want to do is have them enter the password I give them and then direct them to the photos page/folder

I totally understand the basic coding of this but just can't get it to work.

Can anyone help with detail?

If it helps my website provider is Bell Sympatico.

Much appreciated.

 

[tviman]

There are a number of ways to use passwords on your sight. The easiest is to use the .htaccess file, if your host lets your have access to one. If not, then you can use something like PHP to do it. Or, if you have access to a CGI-BIN directory, you can create a small cgi script written in PERL.
If you want your friends to download the photos, you can set up an FTP directory and issue passwords to gain access to the directory.

As far as Front Page goes, a lot of hosts don't support Front Page extensions and those that do usually require you to request that extension support be installed.

There's always a better way. The fun is trying to find it!

 

[ecobb]

Your host will have to install Front Page extensions on the server. If they don't already have it, it's probably because they don't want it on there (wise choice). I refuse to put it on any of our hosting servers. One way to password protect your files is to have the host do it on the server. Put everything you want protected in the same folder, have the host change the permissions on that particular folder, and you're done.

Hope this helps!

 

[EdwardMartinIII]

You can always stick the pictures in a password-protect zip file and upload the file to the website. Don't link to it from your site, just e-mail the direct-to link to the family. For example:

Hey, I just uploaded a zip file of pictures. You can download 'em from

http://www.zipperstuck.com/FancyFeastPixAThon.zip

You can download Winzip from

http://www.winzip.com/

and the password you'll need to extract the pictures is:
GaryColemanDancesWithWolves which you should copy directly from this e-mail.

You know, for example.

Cheers,


Edward

"Cut a hole in the door. Hang a flap. Criminy, why didn't I think of this earlier?!" -- inventor of the cat door

 

[Scooby62]

Thank you everyone for the great suggestions.

I appreciate them all.

 

[ChrisHunt]

A low-tech, low-security, but simple method is to put them on a web page that has no links, in or out, then email your friends/family with the URL. Add a robots.txt directive to tell search engines not to index it if they do somehow find it and you should be there.

Unauthorised peoplae aren't going to view your pics if they don't know where to look!

-- Chris Hunt

http://www.extracon.com

http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk

http://www.napitalia.org.uk

http://www.leicesteryha.org.uk

 

[EdwardMartinIII]

You know, we've got Magic Feather Encryption to allow for hiding source code, so we really need a cool name for this idea of having a "secure" site, where "secure" means "no one knows about it unless I tell 'em".

Oh yeah, we can call it "Jedi Security". At first glance, it seems like the simpler "Houdini Security", which simply relies on misdirection -- put the files where people wouldn't expect to look. However, the robots directive is perfect, because it's like having Alec Guinness in your computer, saying "These are not the files you're looking for, search engine spider. We can go about our business. Move along."

And people dig on Jedi stuff!

Cheers,


Edward

"Cut a hole in the door. Hang a flap. Criminy, why didn't I think of this earlier?!" -- inventor of the cat door

 

[ecobb]

You have entirely too much time on your hands! ;^)

 

[CliveC]

E D W A R D !!!!

Addressing ChrisHunt's post. I have found that although most search engines site obey the robots.txt convention, there is one that doesn't. It is an outfit named Cyveillance, owned by Quest Communications with IP addresses in the range shown here:

Cyveillance QWEST-63-148-99-224 (NET-63-148-99-224-1)
63.148.99.224 - 63.148.99.255.

Once they find the site, it soon appears on Google and others even though Google does not spider the site.


Clive

http://tubularity.com

 

[Wullie]

You might want to add the robots meta tags rather than a robots.txt, simply for the reason that Edward mentioned.

One look at a robots.txt for a site and it disallows access to "Private pics" would cause prying eyes to look there.

Hope this helps

Wullie

http://www.necomputers.org.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.co.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.com

http://www.whiland.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change.
The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[ChrisHunt]

Like I said, low-security but simple. These aren't credit card numbers, they aren't personal names and addresses, they're a few family photos that Scooby doesn't want the whole world to see. Fine. Put 'em on an unlinked page and they're unlikely to be found by anyone unauthorised any time soon. If they do, so what? it's not the end of the world - just change the URL and re-mail your friends & family.

If you can use .htaccess or CGI to protect your page, then do it. If you can't, the above approach gives you severely limited, but still sufficient IMO, security.

And you get to use the Force...

-- Chris Hunt

http://www.extracon.com

http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk

http://www.napitalia.org.uk

http://www.leicesteryha.org.uk

 

[JillC]

Hi Scooby62,

You don't really need high security setup, do you. Just a password page that will pass your family and friends onto a page with is hiding away in your webspace somewhere. Simple answer -

http://www.authpro.com

No need for FP extensions. No cost. Highly configurable.

Have fun. :-{}

 

[Scooby62]

Thank you everyone for your spirited responses.

I can't believe how complicated this is. I love technology. I can't believe it's the 21st century sometimes.

JillC, you seem to have an interesting idea which I will try. Thank you very much.

My friend Dave is a MAC user and had some software that set up a password protected site with photo albums and everything. I think the MAC world is still ahead of us IBM clone types.

Again thank you everyone!
Cheers!

 

[NoviceWebmaster]

I am a member of a non-profit organisation (more like a fraternal order), to which I am contributing on a voluntary basis whatever computer knowledge I have.

The organisation is planning to buy web hosting space for a web site, and I am hoping to help in creating the web pages. But there are certain pages which I hope to restrict to members only. And I am a real newbie when it comes to web designing.

I have been scouring the Internet for information on how to set up those pages I have seen elsewhere: where people are asked to register with a name and a password, after which they can access certain restricted sites with that name and password.

I came across this thread in my search, but I still cannot understand how it all works.

Is this password thing dependent on the software used by the web server? Can anyone please enlighten me on how the whole thing works? Or direct me to a place on the Internet where I can get detailed explanations of the same?

Thanks. I do need help on this, and I would appreciate it very much.



Novice Webmaster

 

[cian]

Novice Webmaster
don't stress yourself and don't try to build the whole thing from scratch.
Simple download a script which will do the whole job for you. i'd recommend php as it's generally handier that setting up perl scripts for example.

you'll find a collection of scripts here:

http://php.resourceindex.com/Complete_Scripts/User_Management/Password_Protection/

Do a google search with terms like "user management" "user authentication" "password protection scripts" etc


Alternatively you could set up your whole site with a content management system which sometimes includes a user management function.
try:

http://phpwebsite.appstate.edu

http://www.postnuke.com/

or a list of more here:

http://www.opensourcecms.com/

- É -

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[NoviceWebmaster]

cian

I have had a preliminary look at the sites you recommended, and they look promising.

When I actually have to do the work, I may still come back for more help.

For now, thanks a lot for your help.



Novice Webmaster

 

[cian]

Eipä kestä...no problem. We have no lives and are always here




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