diff --git a/adminlanding.php b/adminlanding.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..81025d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/adminlanding.php
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+<?php
+$pagetitle = "Admin Area";
+include_once ('header.php');
+unset($_SESSION['title']);
+unset($_SESSION['tid']);
+echo '<center>Welcome to the admin area!<br /><br />';
+echo 'Title creator / editor <a href="titlemanager.php" class="navlink">here</a> (work in progress)<br /><br />';
+echo 'User editor <a href="" class="navlink">here</a> (not working yet)<br />';
+include_once ('footer.php');
+?>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/connect.php-sample b/connect.php-sample
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f6f27f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/connect.php-sample
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+<?php
+define ("DATABASE_HOST", "localhost");
+define ("DATABASE_USER", "not-root");
+define ("DATABASE_PASS", "strong-password-here");
+define ("DATABASE_NAME", "cool_database_name_here");
+?>
diff --git a/footer.php b/footer.php
index b1a0dbb..095b9bf 100644
--- a/footer.php
+++ b/footer.php
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 </CENTER>
 <?php
+// the footer just adds a logout button at the bottom of every page for the currently logged in user
 if (isset($_SESSION['userid']) && ($_SESSION['username'])) {
 	echo '<BR /><BR /><CENTER><FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="logout.php"><INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="logout"><INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT" VALUE="Logout"></FORM></CENTER>';
 }
diff --git a/header.php b/header.php
index ffaad99..6f2e7d6 100644
--- a/header.php
+++ b/header.php
@@ -4,20 +4,24 @@
 <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css">
 <?php
 session_start();
-$uname = (isset($_SESSION['username']) ? $_SESSION['username'] : null);
 $userid = (isset($_SESSION['userid']) ? $_SESSION['userid'] : null);
-include_once ('connection.php');
-$con = @new mysqli(DATABASE_HOST, DATABASE_USER, DATABASE_PASS, DATABASE_NAME);
+include_once ('connect.php');
+$con = mysqli_connect(DATABASE_HOST, DATABASE_USER, DATABASE_PASS, DATABASE_NAME);
 if ($con->connect_errno){
 	die ('Unable to connect to database [' . $db->connect_errno . ']');
 }
 if (!$userid){
-	echo '<TITLE>Please login first</TITLE></HEAD><BODY>';
-	echo '<CENTER><FORM ACTION="login.php" METHOD="POST">Username:<INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="username" SIZE="20"><BR />';
-	echo 'Password:<INPUT TYPE="PASSWORD" NAME="password" SIZE="20"><BR />';
-	echo '<INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT" VALUE="Login ..."></FORM></CENTER>';
+	echo '<title>Please login first</title></head><body><center>Aloha, and welcome to my Guild Wars stats tracker. Please login below.<hr>';
+	echo '<FORM ACTION="login.php" METHOD="POST"><TABLE BORDER="0"><TR><TD>Username:</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="username" SIZE="20"></TD></TR>';
+	echo '<tr><td>Password:</td><td><input type="password" name="password" SIZE="20"></td></tr></table>';
+	echo '<input type="submit" value="Login ..."></form><br /><br />';
+	echo 'If you haven\'t registered an account yet,<br />please click <a href="register.php" class="navlink">here</a> to create one.<br />';
 } else {
-	echo '<TITLE>' . $pagetitle . '</TITLE></HEAD><BODY><CENTER>';
-	echo '(<A HREF="index.php" CLASS="navlink">Home</A>) (<A HREF="search.php" CLASS="navlink">SEARCH</A>) (<A HREF="logout.php?action=logout" CLASS="navlink">Logout ' . $uname . '</A>)<HR><BR / >';
+	echo '<title>' . $pagetitle . '</title></head><body><center>';
+	echo '(<a href="index.php" class="navlink">Home</a>) (<a href="preferences.php" class="navlink">Options</a>) ';
+	if ($_SESSION['admin'] == 1){
+		echo'(<a href="adminlanding.php" class="navlink">Administration</a>) ';
+	}
+	echo '(<a href="logout.php?action=logout" class="navlink">Logout ' . $_SESSION['username'] . '</a>)<hr><br / >';
 }
 ?>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index a1bd06d..96579d6 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+<!-- this is the main directory of the site, which links to the various content pages -->
 <?php
 $pagetitle = "Guild Wars Stats Tracker";
 include_once ('header.php');
@@ -9,4 +10,4 @@ if (isset($_SESSION['userid'])){
     echo 'Add Guild Wars account <a href="addaccounts.php" class="navlink">here</a><br />';
 }
 include_once ('footer.php');
-?>
\ No newline at end of file
+?>
