.htaccess Tutorials
Change Domains But Keep Your Traffic – .htaccess 301s
Changing domains was a big decision. My biggest concern was being able to keep my user, RSS feed, and search engine traffic. Luckily, the power of the .htaccess file allowed me to do so:
Advanced .htaccess Security – Allow or Block Specific IPs From Your Website
The more I use the .htaccess file the more I appreciate its value. My next valuable lesson in .htaccess security deals with allowing and blocking access to a web server from a specific IP address. Reasons for doing this include:
Advanced .htaccess Security – Block Unwanted Referrers
For some bloggers and web developers, Digg can be a huge boost in traffic and thus a huge bust in ad revenue. Unfortunately, the Digg Effect can kill a website's bandwidth and get the website shut down. Wouldn't it be great if a weary web developer could prevent his site from being shut down by blocking users referred by Digg, at least a while? Using a small bit of .htaccess code and mod_rewrite, the developer can do just that.
Advanced .htaccess Security – Block Access to Include Files Using .htaccess
When I build websites for clients and myself, I use numerous include files to make my website easy to maintain. These include files may:
WordPress’ .htaccess File Is Genius
Choosing to use WordPress was a more difficult decision that you may think. Sure, WordPress is the most used blogging software on the internet, but I'm a programmer, right? I should want to code everything myself, right? I thought that at first but I decided to try WordPress first and I've been impressed with every part of WordPress so far. One of the interesting parts of WordPress is the URL rewriting and "slug" that gets created for each post. How did they do that?
Prevent Image Hotlinking With .htaccess and mod_rewrite
One way to kill your website's bandwidth and overall download speed is to not block image "hotlinking." What's hotlinking? Hotlinking is linking to a file on an external server that the Web Developer does not own (most of the time the Web Developer doesn't even have permission to use the file). Hot linking occurs mostly with images.
Advanced Branding – Give Your Pages A Custom Extension Using .htaccess SetHandler
A sign of a good website is one that does the "little things" to increase the usability or value to the user. There are other little things you can do to enhance your website, including giving your pages a custom extension.
Hide Your .htaccess Settings Using … .htaccess
Your .htaccess file can hold a good amount of information about the structure of your website, some of which should not be exposed to users. These settings include mod_rewrite settings, php_flag/php_value settings, and SetHandler directives.
Custom Error Page Tips – Designate The Pages You Hope No One Sees
Creating custom error pages is extremely ironic in that you put great effort into pages you hope no one sees. Custom error pages are worth the effort as they:
Quick & Easy CSS Compression Using PHP
Loading time of a website is as important as its functionality. You can have a great website but who wants to wait for it to load? CSS compression can help your website load faster and easily maintain its functionality. I've created an easy-to-use PHP file to compress your CSS for optimal client download time.