secure directories

[alstond]

I'm sorry to post such a newb question, but I have been having trouble putting together all of the pieces through searches.

I want to have a directory filled with high resolution jpegs (from an ftp upload) that cannot be accessed except by me. From that directory, I want to use php to create thumbnails (on the fly, or can be stored in a seperate folder) that are accessible by visitors.

Any ideas?

[drew010]

if the server is apache, you can use htaccess to password protect a directory so you have to enter a password to enter, and scripts will still be able to access it.
they show how to set it up here: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/howto/auth.html#basic

there are also scripts that can create them for you, or if you have cpanel, it can make the .htaccess for you also.