7.10 Password-Protecting Your HomePage

Say you've got a bunch of stuff on your HomePage that you don't want anyone else to see, or that you only want a select few to have the privilege of viewing. For this, you can password-protect your .Mac HomePage. Keep in mind that password-protection does two things:

• It gives you the option of selecting who can view your HomePage.

• It lets you keep others out.

But most importantly, if you created the File Sharing interface to your iDisk's Public folder, password-protection makes it so only those who have a password for your site ”people you've trusted ”can access the files in your Public folder. This point is really important because adding the web interface to your Public folder instantly makes the contents of your Public folder available to anyone, even if you've set up password-protection in the iDisk preference pane (System Preferences .Mac iDisk).

To enable password-protection for your .Mac HomePage, follow these steps:

1. Go to the .Mac HomePage site (http://www.mac.com/homepage).

2. Click on the arrow to the right of the Pages column for the "Protect this site" link.

3. After clicking on the arrow, you will be taken to the page shown in Figure 7-45.

   Figure 7-45. Password-protecting your .Mac HomePage.

   
   

4. If you want to password-protect your .Mac HomePage, click on the checkbox next to On and then type in a password in the text field provided. Passwords must be 3-8 characters in length, and as the page notes, they are also case-sensitive. You can use the letters a-z and A-Z, the numbers 0-9, and any of the following characters: -, _ , ~ , ! , * , and '; passwords cannot contain spaces.

5. After you have entered the password for your site, click on the Apply Changes button.

Now when someone tries to view your .Mac HomePage, they will first be challenged for a password, as shown in Figure 7-46.

Figure 7-46. Enter the correct password, enter the site; enter the wrong password, and you will be denied access.