[SABmore]

You may want to look to leverage a PHP framework (i.e. CodeIgniter, Yii, Zend, etc.) to help facilitate some of the heavier lifting for you. I prefer CodeIgniter, and have had good luck using ion auth (https://github.com/benedmunds/CodeIgniter-Ion-Auth) for user management.

[zagor]

Thanks SABmore. I have looked at CodeIgniter before, but my web application is very simple (in terms of the code I am deploying). I'm a bit reluctant to choose a framework just for a log-in script but will look at Ion Auth.

Am I right in thinking that (a) there is no good, working, error-free way script/method of doing user management or (b) a tutorial or guide that explains building something fully fledged - with things like proper security and validation, etc.

There are many tutorials out there, but reading nearly every guide's comments reveals bugs, or things left out.