I forgot to address this question:
>>Do you think you could direct me to someplace I can find a way to make an effective password-protected area?

There is no real EASY way to do this. All "effective" solutions really require you to play with the server a bit. There are JavaScript implementations, but they are hoaky. Basically it involves creating a directory that is the same name as your desired password. Then, you make your form field have a submit function that tries to navigate to the directory with the name of what the user typed in. Like I said, this is hoaky. To make a bullet proof password area, you need to use your server's security files. There is a file called ".htaccess". That file contains permissions for accessing directories. You also specify another file that contains the username/password info.

Here are a few links for you to browse through:
http://faq.clever.net/htaccess.htm
http://www.boycottdaimlerchrysler.com/htaccess.html

And here are some free PERL scripts that will do what you want.
http://www.perlarchive.com/guide/Password_Protection/

There is one other option, but I don't know if your server supports FrontPage. MS FrontPage supports creating protected "Webs". Basically it manages the .htpaccess settings for you, but I would stay away from it.