Performance-oriented way to protect files on PHP level?

Question

I am looking for some input on something I have been thinking about for a long time. It is a very general problem, maybe there are solutions out there I haven\'t thought of

Answer 1

I would go with implementing a gateway. You set a .htaccess file to the /assets/ URL pointing to a gateway.php script that will deny if both the credentials are not valid and this particular file is not published or show it.

I'm a little confused. Do you need to protect also the stylesheet files and images? Perhaps moving this folder is the best alternative.