Trying to password protect a page using Dreamweaver

[TheBDB]

I'm trying to password protect a page using Dreamweaver CS3. I'd like to have it so when someone clicks on a link to a certain part of my website, a popup comes up asking for a username and password. So far what I've read I was think of using the behaviors tool and creating the popup that way, but I don't know how to make the popup require a password. Do I need Javascript? Is there some other way? I obviously know very little about web design but I can follow instructions. Thanks

 

[sourceninja]

What you need is done server side with basic access authentication. Depending on what server you are running there are different ways to set this up. For example, on apache you can use .htaccess files.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Javascript is probably less secure than doing it server side. What kind of OS is this site going to be hosted on? If it's windows, you can just set permissions on the pages in question not to allow anonymous IISuser access. Create a Windows account, and give it permissions to the content. Visitors will be prompted a login when they reach that restricted content.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

'Probably less secure' in this case, means 'completely unsecure'.

IISuser accounts on windows or the voodoo that is .htaccess on linux/apache.

 

[sourceninja]

A 3rd alternative is using a server side language and cookies (like php and sessions).

but the .htaccess/IIS thing is the quick, semi-secure fix.

Javascript (without some major ajax backend stuff) can just be worked around with view source.

 

[Cogman]

Javascript is client side and therefore should NOT be used for this. Only server side authentication should be considered secure.

Even a plain text lookup of a password secured on the server is miles more secure then having client side authentication.

 

[TheBDB]

The funny thing is it really isn't necessary that it is secure...we give out the password to everyone, it is just to keep completely random people out. If someone cared enough to hack in to get this non-secret stuff it wouldn't be a big deal. I know this sounds really stupid.... Thanks for all the replies but I really have no idea what any of you are talking about.

 

[TheBDB]

By the way it is Windows Server 2003, and we just want a certain section of the website to require some basic security to keep out random people.

 

[sourceninja]

http://www.authenticationtutorial.com/tutorial/

yes, the very first google search for IIS and authentication.....