Password protect a simple web site

Question

I've got an HTML-only website (with a bit of inconsequential javascript). The static pages are generated from a photo-blogging program that I created. There are hundreds of pages and thousands of pictures.

I'm considering adding very basic security to the site (as a marginal impediment to someone who's casually attempting to access the site). I could probably live with a single password for everyone, although I suppose multiple username/password combos wouldn't hurt. (I don't want this this to become an administrative hassle.)

Doing a quick search, I've discovered that there are myriad ways to implement authentication, but most seem to be overkill for my needs. Because so many people disable javascript, I don't want to use client-side authentication. The site is hosted with GoDaddy on a Windows server, so I have some control over IIS settings. I've also got access to ASP.NET, MySQL, SQL Server, etc.

Since I generate the pages, it's no big deal to change them all to a new standard approach. Any suggestions for a simple approach?

Answer 1

Sounds like basic HTTP authentication would fit the job perfectly.

Here's the MSDN article on setting up HTTP Basic Authentication on IIS 6.0.

(Though sadly, it's a lot more annoying to set up on IIS than it would be on Apache.)