1) What's a common use for .htaccess?
People often want their Miva Store to be the homepage of their website and .htaccess helps with this. For example, if a Miva Store is at /mm5/merchant.mvc?, then the text they would enter into their .htaccess file would read:
DirectoryIndex /mm5/merchant.mvc?
That .htaccess should be in the 'root' directory, in this case it would be httpdocs
2) I've never heard of a .htaccess file before, what can they do?
.htaccess files can password protect a directory, redirect pages on your website, block certain IP's , throw custom errors, and more.
3) It seems like a strange file name, isn't that just a file extension?
No, that's what they're called, just .htaccess, pronounced {dot h t access}. The name of the file is the extension. It's not file.htaccess it's just .htaccess
4) Does a .htaccess file come automatically with my website?
No, you will need to create one unless you or your designer have already added one to the site.
5) How do I check if I already have any .htaccess files on my website?
Log in to your site with FTP and make sure you have 'Show All Hidden Files' selected and then look through your directories. If you're going to be adding a .htaccess file to your site it would be good to check and make sure there isn't an existing .htaccess file to avoid overwriting any important .htaccess functionality.
6) How do I create a .htaccess file?
Follow these steps:
a) Open notepad or a simple text editor
b) Save a file as .htaccess
c) Make sure you have 'Show all hidden files' selected within your FTP software so you can see the .htaccess file
7) I uploaded my .htaccess file with FTP but I don't see it?!?
By default a .htaccess file is usually a hidden file. Please make sure you have 'Show all hidden files' checked within your FTP software. (all files with names that begin with a dot are considered "hidden files" on Linux and Unix servers)
8) I'm having trouble creating a .htaccess file, what do I do now?
Try creating a htaccess.txt file and then uploading it to your website with FTP. After it has been uploaded then rename it to .htaccess within your FTP software. Remember to have 'show all hidden files' selected otherwise. (Windows doesn't like files that start with a "period")
9) I'm not sure what content I should be putting into my .htaccess file, help!
There are websites that can help generate .htaccess file content, here is an example:
http://developers.evrsoft.com/tools-htaccess-generator.shtml
10) I have more questions, where can I learn more about htaccess?
Here are some links that may be useful:
http://www.htaccesstools.com/
http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/htaccess/
http://www.javascriptkit.com/howto/htaccess.shtml
11) What folder do I put my .htaccess file in?
It depends on what kind of functionality you're looking for. If you're trying to make your Miva store the home page then put it in the /httpdocs directory (Plesk servers). If your domain is hosted on an Ensim server, put it in the /var/www/html/ directory.
