I'm setting up a simple web site for a member of my family, using wordpress as a CMS. I've already registered a domain name and I'm about to set up wordpress. I want them to be able to edit the site content online (using wordpress's admin interface) and view the site, but I don't want the site to be available to the public while it's in the editing stages.
Can anyone suggest a good way to prevent access to the public (for example a "coming soon" page, but access to the main site via a password; or perhaps put the wordpress installation in a subdirectory while the site is in the editing stages, and then use url rewriting to redirect the root directory to the subdirectory when the site goes live).
I should mention that I'm relatively new to wordpress, so if this kind of functionality is built in I apologise for asking the question.