Customizing Your Server With htaccess

The most common web server available for hosting basic Internet sites is called Apache, an Open Source Software licensed product available from the Apache Software Foundation. It is popular not only because it is available at no charge, but also because it has proven to be much more secure from attack by hackers than other web servers.

In addition to choosing a hosting service that offers the Apache server, it is also important that the service allows the user to set up their own server customizations by using what is called an "htaccess" file. This file can be used by the web developer to change the way the server responds to errors, the logging of visitors information, access to secured files or directories, and the handling of special media files, among other things.

For example, if you've used the Internet for any length of time, you've probably encountered a message that the page you requested was not found (known as a "404" error). The ability to customize the error page is important to keep visitors from leaving your site for what is, hopefully, a temporary problem (to see a custom error page, here's a bad link). If your hosting service does not allow the use of htaccess to customize server settings, then your visitor will be shown a generic error page used by the hosting service, and not have a clue as to what to do next. For this, and many other reasons, be sure htaccess support is included in your service contract.