Protecting multiple directories

I need to set up a login page so that a user will input his username/password and then be taken to his own directory.

In other words, if you go to the fidelity.com site and click on Accounts, you'll see a login screen asking for your SSN (username) and password. Successful entry will lead you to only your own data.

I know how to use .htaccess and .htpasswd to protect one directory and allow authorized users, but how do I set this up to direct multiple users to only their own directories?

That's not what happens there. After the user logs in the subsequent pages are generated using a server side scripting language (e.g. PHP,JSP, ASP, etc) using the users data retrieved from a database.

You didn't REALLY think that Fidelity generated unique static HTML pages for each user?

No, not HTML pages. I thought the user would be dropped into a specific directory, though. I guess the fidelity.com example was not very useful.

In any case, any ideas for me? We aren't yet at the point where we have anything fancy, just static HTML pages in static directories.

Not knowing what it is you're trying to achieve makes it harder to figure solutions, but you could just write a login javascript that depending on their username and password it would then open up a particular page (directory, index.html)
terry