I'm looking to create a password-protected section of my website that requires user login, and I'm wondering what approach would provide the simplest solution. For the most part, the site will be very simple and static-- i.e. no real requirement for a database/backend-- with the protected content contained in a single directory, which I've already configured on my server via htaccess. I guess I'm wondering ultimately if it's possible to use a script of some sort that will enable access to this protected directory via a form and thereby bypass the need for configuring a mySQL/PHP solution? Furthermore, this protected content is not exactly hyper-sensitive, but private nonetheless.

Thanks much for any direction here.