Hello!
Ever heard of an .htaccess file? It sounds super technical, right?
Think of it as the rulebook for your website. It tells the server how to act: how to handle visitors, how to keep things secure, and how to run faster.
But writing this rulebook by hand can be a headache. That's why we built this tool, to make it easy.
Step 1: URL & Redirects
This step is about your website's address and guiding your visitors.
- URL Normalization: Here you decide on the "official" address for your site. Will it be
www.yoursite.com or just yoursite.com? Choosing one is key so that search engines like Google don't get confused and think you have duplicate websites. It's like telling everyone to always use the front door.
- 301 Redirect: This is like a permanent "change of address" order. If you moved a page from
/old-contact.html to /contact.html, a 301 redirect tells browsers (and Google) that the page has moved forever to the new location.
Step 2: Performance
A fast website is a happy website. These options help improve speed.
- Browser Caching: Imagine you have a reference book. Would you go to the library for it every time you need a fact? No, you'd keep it on your desk. Caching does that: it tells a visitor's browser to save parts of your site (like logos and images) so the next time they visit, the page loads almost instantly.
- Gzip Compression: This option "zips up" your website's files before sending them to the visitor, just like a .zip file. The files are smaller and therefore travel faster over the internet.
Step 3: Security
This is where we put the security guard at the door of your website.
- Basic Authentication: Need a private area on your website, like an admin panel? This allows you to protect a directory with a password.
- Prevent Hotlinking: Imagine your neighbor connects a hose to your faucet to water their garden. They're using your water. Hotlinking is similar: it's when another website displays your images but loads them from your server, stealing your bandwidth. This option prevents it.
- IP Address Access Control: This is your website's guest list. You have two modes: let everyone in except a few IPs (blacklist) or block everyone except a few trusted IPs (whitelist).
Step 4: General
The final touches to make everything work perfectly.
- Custom Error Pages: Instead of showing the boring "404 Not Found" error page, you can create your own to provide a better experience for lost visitors.
- Server Protections: Checking these boxes is good practice. They prevent snoops from seeing a list of all the files in a directory and protect the
.htaccess file itself so no one can view it from the browser.