How to Password-Protect a Website
Last year when I designed and developed our family book, I needed an easy way to password-protect the entire site. My aunt, who is the author, doesn’t want the book to be public. She just wants to share it with family members. I can’t remember the resource I used; therefore, I would like to document it here just in case others find it useful.
Place the follow code at the top of the page you want to be password-protected:
<?php
/* Your password */
$password = 'yourpassword';
if (empty($_COOKIE['password']) || $_COOKIE['password'] !== $password) {
// Password not set or incorrect. Send to login.php.
header('Location: /login.php');
exit;
}
?>
Create a login page (login.php). It should live on the top directory. Here’s the PHP code:
<?php
/* Your password */
$password = 'yourpassword';
/* Redirects here after login */
$redirect_after_login = 'index.php';
/* Will not ask password again for */
$remember_password = strtotime('+7 days'); // 7 days
if (isset($_POST['password']) && $_POST['password'] == $password) {
setcookie("password", $password, $remember_password);
header('Location: ' . $redirect_after_login);
exit;
}
?>
Create HTML log-in form in login.php:
<form method="POST">
<input type="text" name="password" placeholder="Enter password">
<input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit" class="button">
</form>
The webpage is set to expired in 7 days. If you want a logout link, create a logout.php page with the following codes:
<?php
/* Your password */
$password = 'yourpassword';
if (empty($_COOKIE['password']) || $_COOKIE['password'] !== $password) {
// Password not set or incorrect. Send to login.php.
header('Location: /login.php');
exit;
}
?>