There's a new article posted over on DevShed.com that just might interest quite a few people looking for that "next step" for their website - how to create a login form with PHP.

I cannot tell you the number of people that I see each day looking for something as simple as this to work into their site. I imagine many search the web looking for something that will fit their needs and they can integrate easily - but most have a tough time, when they could just read up and get it working quickly.

Their choice was to go with database storage of the user sessions, ensuring the user is who they say they are, and creating the actual script to allow them to login and logoff with the click of a mouse. They even give a chunk of code to help with persistent connections...