Forum Moderators: mack
You will need to consider a server technology like php or ASP to do the passwords and sessions.
Should not be too difficult to find stuff like that on google
hotscripts.com is a good resource. There are many others as well. I would also suggest getting some basic understanding of the language you choose. These scripts are not actually plug and play. Especially when you will have to put multiple scripts together for the various behaviours you have mentioned.
We do have forums here that may help as well.
Microsoft .NET and Related Technologies [webmasterworld.com] for ASP
Perl and PHP CGI Scripting [webmasterworld.com]
Any advice, warnings, etc. would be appreciated.
Obviously this depends on the type of site you're building, but my advice is:
Don't make users register right away if there's no reason for it. They're much more likely to register if you give them something-for-nothing first. Only after you've shown that your site is "valuable" to them should you ask them to register.
Good luck!