To login to a htaccess restricted area (see http://www.ask-sheldon.com/protect-folder-via-htaccess/) via URL ist pretty simple (but often forgotten):

http://user:password@www.ask-sheldon.com/protected/area

Please keep in mind, that in this case username and password are transmitted as plain text. There is no encryption or something like that! So anyone who plays man-in-the-middle is able to steel your credentials easily by just reading them. That’s why i strongly recommend to use https:

https://user:password@www.ask-sheldon.com/protected/area

This way not only the data is encrypted but the whole communication including the credentials in the URL.