We’ve just release a big update to Impact WSPP and Filmstrip WSPP that adds password protection and hidden gallery support. There’s also another nice surprise – read on….
Passwords can be added to either individual galleries or to entire sets. Multiple username-password combinations are supported, so you can manage access to galleries with a lot of finesse.
Both galleries and sets can now be hidden from the main gallery index too. Used in combination with the password control, this can be used to provide you with a private client area.
The system is very flexible and can be moulded to meet just about any need. Here’s an example that may be suitable for a wedding photographer, and here’s another that’s more suited to a commercial photographer.
Your web host needs to offer PHP support for the password protection to work. As you would expect the plugin handles everything for you, there’s no need to modify any files by hand or otherwise get your hands dirty 
You can read more about the privacy settings in the manual.
What’s the surprise?
You’ll notice that there’s now an extra tick box next to the list of options for selecting the image from a gallery to use on the index page.
This box tells the plugin not to use the image in the gallery itself – but to use it only for the index page. This is great if you wish to create a cropped virtual copy of an image to use on the index but to then show the entire image in the gallery.