I would suggest you purchase a book on PHP. An excellent book is PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites :
http://www.amazon.com/PHP-MySQL-Dynamic-Web-Sites/dp/0321336577It gives you all the basics you need to know and there is an example at the back explaining how you can create a member only area.
Regards,
Alex.
Thanks for your response Alex. I have actually purchased and completed such a book already - which is where my understanding and use of PHP has come from to date.
Is there anything a bit more specific out there that focuses soley on this area of the topic?
Rayhan, yes, usernames and passwords are stored in the database.
Thanks for your help
Greg