Summary

In this tutorial you will find out about the .htaccess file and the power it has to improve your website.

You can create a .htaccess file on your local computer or on the server.

On your computer:

Windows: Using Notepad save the file as .htaccess

Mac OS X: Using TextEdit save the file as “.htaccess”
Note: If you save the file as .htaccess if will be hidden and you will not be able to see it in the Finder.

Using your preferred FTP client upload the file to the server. The .htaccess file will need to be in folder where your site is located, typically the public_html folder.

On the server

1. Login to your cPanel Account
2. Click the File Manager icon, located in the Files section.
3. From the File Manger popup choose “Choose Hidden Files (dotfiles).”
   Note: If you do not see this popup you will need to click the “reset all interface settings” link at the bottom of the cPanel page.
4. From the File Manager popup choose the folder you would like to open, most often the “Web Root (public_html/www)”
5. Click the Go button.
   Note: If you are in the File Manager already you can add &showhidden=1 to the end of the URL.
6. Click the New File icon to create a new file and name it .htaccess

You may not always want to use index.htm or index.html as your index file for a directory, for example if you are using PHP files in your site, you may want index.php to be the index file for a directory. You are not limited to ‘index’ files though. Using .htaccess you can set foofoo.blah to be your index file if you want to!

Alternate index files are entered in a list. The server will work from left to right, checking to see if each file exists, if none of them exist it will display a directory listing (unless, of course, you have turned this off).

DirectoryIndex index.php index.php3 messagebrd.pl index.html index.htm

You can customize your own, personal error pages (for example when a file is not found) instead of using default error pages or not having an error page. This will make your site seem much more professional.

You can use custom error pages for any error as long as you know its number (like 404 for page not found) by adding the following to your .htaccess file:

ErrorDocument errornumber /file.html

For example if I had the file notfound.html in the root directory of my site and I wanted to use it for a 404 error I would use:

ErrorDocument 404 /notfound.html

If the error page is not in the root directory of your site, you can enter the path to the file:

ErrorDocument 500 /errorpages/500.html

These are some of the most common errors:

401 - Authorization Required
400 - Bad request
403 - Forbidden
500 - Internal Server Error
404 - Wrong page

Sometimes, for one reason or another, you will have no index file in your directory. This will, of course, mean that if someone types the directory name into their browser, a full listing of all the files in that directory will be shown. This could be a security risk for your site.

To prevent against this (without creating lots of new ‘index’ files, you can enter a command into your .htaccess file to stop the directory list from being shown:

# disable directory browsing Options ExecCGI Includes IncludesNOEXEC SymLinksIfOwnerMatch -Indexes # enable directory browsing Options All +Indexes

To only allow people with specific IP addresses to access your site (for example, only allowing people using a particular network to get into a certain directory) or you may want to ban certain IP addresses (for example, keeping disruptive members out of your message boards).This will only work if you know the IP addresses you would like to ban.

Please keep in mind that most ISP’s use dynamic IP addresses, so this is not always the best way to limit/grant access.

Block an IP Address

#Deny List order allow,deny deny from 123.123.123.123 #specify a specific address deny from 123.123.123.123/30 #specify a subnet range deny from 123.123.* #specify an IP address wildcard allow from all

Allow an IP address

#Allow List order allow,deny allow from 123.123.123.123 #specify a specific address allow from 123.123.123.123/30 #specify a subnet range allow from 123.123.* #specify an IP address wildcard deny from all 

Note: This will still allow scripts to use the files in the directory.

There is a tool in the cPanel that can create the Redirects for you.

Redirect from a specific file to a new file

Example:

Redirect /redirect_from.html http://www.newsite.com/folder/redirect_to.html

In the above example, a file in the root directory called redirect_example.html is redirected to the URL http://www.newsite.com/folder/redirect_example.html
If the old file were in a subdirectory then you could use:

/subdirectory/redirect_from.html

WildCard Redirect / Redirecting from one folder to a new folder

Redirect /redirect_from http://www.newsite.com/redirect_to

Now any request to your site below /olddirectory will be redirected to the new site, with the extra information in the URL added on, for example if someone typed in:

http://www.example.com/redirect_from/images/image.gif

They would be redirected to:

http://www.newsite.com/redirect_to/images/image.gif

One of the many uses of the .htaccess is being able to reliably password protect directories on websites.

The .htaccess File

Adding password protection to a directory using .htaccess takes two stages. The first part is to add the appropriate lines to your .htaccess file in the directory you would like to protect. Everything below this directory will be password protected:

AuthName "Section Name" AuthType Basic AuthUserFile /home/username/.htpasswds Require valid-user 

There are a few parts of this which you will need to change for your site. You should replace “Section Name” with the name of the part of the site you are protecting e.g. “Members Area”.

The /home/username/.htpasswds should be changed to reflect the full server path to the .htpasswds file. If you do not know what the full path to your webspace is, check your cPanel. Look on the left “stats” column of the cPanel.

The .htpasswds File

Password protecting a directory takes a little more work than any of the other .htaccess functions because you must also create a file to contain the usernames and passwords which are allowed to access the site. These should be placed in a file which (by default) should be called .htpasswd. This can be placed anywhere within you website (as the passwords are encrypted) but it is advisable to store it outside the web root (in your home directory) so that it is impossible to access it from the web.

Entering Usernames And Passwords

Once you have created your .htpasswd file (you can do this in a standard text editor) you must enter the usernames and passwords to access the site. They should be entered as follows:

username:password

Where the password is the encrypted format of the password. There is a good username/password service at the KxS site (http://www.kxs.net/support/htaccess_pw.html) which will allow you to enter the user name and password and will output it in the correct format.

For multiple users, just add extra lines to your .htpasswd file in the same format as the first.

Accessing The Site

When you try to access a site which has been protected by .htaccess your browser will pop up a standard username/password dialog box. Alternatively ou can send the username and password (unencrypted) in the URL as follows:

http://username:password@www.website.com/directory/

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SEO Mistake #1: Not using keywords correctly.
Many webmasters are concerned about being banned from the search engines for keyword spamming or stuffing so they limit the use of keywords on their web pages. As long as your content sounds natural and reads easily, the chances are you have not overused your keywords. Make sure your keywords are included in the first and last paragraphs, in your headings and in your title and meta tags.

SEO Mistake #2: Trying to fool search engine spiders.
Search engines are a lot more sophisticated than most of us realize. They recognize – and penalize – hidden text, keyword spamming, and cloaking, which is showing different content to the search engine spiders than to your visitors. All of these practices only serve to hurt your page ranking and can in fact cause your website to be banned by the search engines, which means no one will find you – and no traffic means no profits.

SEO Mistake #3: Using Flash
Flash is a great presentation tool and can be dramatic and effective if used sparingly. It’s particularly appropriate if you have a media related website and want to demonstrate your industry savvy. However for most website owners it’s just not necessary and can harm your page ranking. Search engine spiders cannot read content embedded in Flash files, which means they’re not recognized or indexed.

SEO Mistake #4: Using Your Company Name (and Only Your Company Name) As a Title Tag
Unless you’re branding your company name, your company name shouldn’t be the only element in your title tag. Feel free to include it, however it’s also important to use your primary keyword for each webpage title tag. This is more useful for your customers and helps the search engines identify the various pages on your site.

SEO Mistake #5: Using A Splash Page (Intro Page)
A splash page is a web page with a large graphic or company logo, and a link to enter the site. This is an ineffective strategy for a number of reasons:

* No keyword rich text on the page, nothing for the spiders to index.
* Only one internal link on the page
* These pages often have a redirect which often causes spiders to ignore them

If search engine optimization is important to your business, you may need to forgot the splash page. Your home page should be easy to navigate, content rich, and link visitors and spiders to other main web pages.
In general, unless you’re trying to outsmart the search engines and using nefarious tactics, the majority of search engine mistakes are reversible. If you’ve committed a few of these mistakes, simply correcting them can increase your page ranking almost immediately. Take some time to evaluate your SEO strategy and eliminate these SEO mistakes.

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Weather – To see the weather for many U.S. and worldwide cities, type “weather” followed by the city and state, U.S. zip code, or city and country. Search e.g. weather San Francisco, CA

Stock Quotes – To see current market data for a given company or fund, type the ticker symbol into the search box. On the results page, you can click the link to see more data from Google Finance. Search e.g. CSCO

Time – To see the time in many cities around the world, type in “time” and the name of the city. Search e.g. time London

Sports Scores – To see scores and schedules for sports teams type the team name or league name into the search box. This is enabled for many leagues including the National Basketball Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball. Search e.g. san francisco 49ers

Calculator – To use Google’s built-in calculator function, simply enter the calculation you’d like done into the search box. Search e.g. 5*9+(sqrt 10)^3=

Book Search – If you’re looking for results from Google Book Search, you can enter the name of the author or book title into the search box. Then, click on “Books” from the left-hand navigation to view book content. You can click through on the record to view more detailed info about that author or title. Search e.g. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Unit Conversion – You can use Google to convert between many different units of measurement of height, weight, and volume among many others. Just enter your desired conversion into the search box and we’ll do the rest. Search e.g. 10.5 cm in inches

Public Data – To see trends for population and unemployment rates of U.S. states and counties, type “population” or “unemployment rate” followed by a state or county. You can click through to a page that lets you compare different locations. Search e.g. population FL

People Profiles – If you’re looking for someone you just met or a long-lost friend, enter the name of that person plus some identifying words about him or her to see a list of people with that name. Search e.g. jon wiley

Synonym Search – If you want to search not only for your search term but also for its synonyms, place the tilde sign (~) immediately in front of your search term. Search e.g. ~fast food

Dictionary Definitions – To see a definition for a word or phrase, simply type the word “define” then a space, then the word(s) you want defined. To see a list of different definitions from various online sources, you can type “define:” followed by a word or phrase. Note that the results will define the entire phrase. Search e.g. Define philosophy

Spell Checker – Google’s spell checking software automatically checks whether your query uses the most common spelling of a given word. If it thinks you’re likely to generate better results with an alternative spelling, it will ask “Did you mean: (more common spelling)?”. Click the suggested spelling to launch a Google search for that term. Search e.g. expolsion

Local Search – If you’re looking for a store, restaurant, or other local business you can search for the category of business and the location and we’ll return results right on the page, along with a map, reviews, and contact information. Search e.g. Italian food 02138

Movie Showtimes – To find reviews and showtimes for movies playing near you, type “movies” or the name of a current film into the Google search box. If you’ve already saved your location on a previous search, the top search result will display showtimes for nearby theaters for the movie you’ve chosen. Search e.g. movies 94705

Currency Conversion – To use our built-in currency converter, simply enter the conversion you’d like done into the Google search box and we’ll provide your answer directly on the results page. Search e.g. 150 GBP in USD

Maps – Looking for a map? Type in the name or U.S. zip code of a location and the word “map” and we’ll return a map of that location. Clicking on the map will take you to a larger version on Google Maps. Search e.g. Seattle map

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// Get the server HTTP Referer
$referral = $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'];

// All to lowercase
$referral = strtolower($referral);

// Only get the referral website
preg_match(“/^(http:\/\/)?([^\/]+)/i”, $referral, $result);
$referral = $result[2];

// Remove subdomain from the Referer
$referral = explode (“.”, $referral);
$i = count($referral);
$referral = $referral[$i-2] . “.” . $referral[$i-1];

// Remove www. from the Referer
if (substr ($referral, 0, 4) == “www.”)
{
$referral = substr (“$referral”, 4);
}

if ($referral == “google.com”)
{
echo “Hey! You just came from google by searching $_GET['q'].”;
}

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function r($len){
$keyset = “abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789″;
$randkey = “”;
for ($i=0; $i<$len; $i++)
{
$randkey = $randkey . $keyset[mt_rand(0, strlen($keyset)-1)];
}
return $randkey;
}

Strong Password generator function

function generatePassword($length=9, $strength=0) {
$vowels = ‘aeuy’;
$consonants = ‘bdghjmnpqrstvz’;
if ($strength & 1) {
$consonants .= ‘BDGHJLMNPQRSTVWXZ’;
}
if ($strength & 2) {
$vowels .= “AEUY”;
}
if ($strength & 4) {
$consonants .= ’23456789′;
}
if ($strength & 8) {
$consonants .= ‘@#$%’;
}

$password = ”;
$alt = time() % 2;
for ($i = 0; $i < $length; $i++) {
if ($alt == 1) {
$password .= $consonants[(rand() % strlen($consonants))];
$alt = 0;
} else {
$password .= $vowels[(rand() % strlen($vowels))];
$alt = 1;
}
}
return $password;
}

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<?php
// Write this line at the top of script
$start = (float) array_sum(explode(‘ ‘,microtime()));

/*
your code here
*/

// Write these lines at the bottom of script
$end = (float) array_sum(explode(‘ ‘,microtime()));
echo sprintf(“%.4f”, ($end-$start));
?>

If you want to increase the execution time limit then use these:

1. set_time_limit(int $seconds)

(Note – will not work in Safe Mode)

2. ini_set(‘max_execution_time’, 300); //300 seconds = 5 minutes

(Note – ini_set will not work in Safe Mode)

3. Via .htaccess

php_value max_execution_time 90

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Sometimes we have to hide referer value to landing page. This is also called Link Masking or Link cloaking. Suppose we have Page A & a page B. Page A contains a link to page B. When we click on the link Page B has knowledge that from where user is coming. But if want to hide the url of Page A, then? This subject is very important in affiliate marketing.

Below were experiment to tackle conceal/blank referrer with output in different browsers.

If you are not a programmer then referer.us & spoofurl.com save your life.

Summary: There is no magic bullet, but using a combination of methods you can achieve the desired results. When using Opera, Chrome or Safari with Javascript disabled I have not found a way to properly blank the referrer while doing automatic redirection. Basicaly we are hiding the value of HTTP_REFERER.

Tested Running Windows XP

Browsers Tested
Internet Explorer 8.0.7600
Firefox 3.6.6
Opera 10.60 Build 3445
Google Chrome
Safari 5.33.16.0

Manually click a link <a href=http://www.examplesite.com/pageB.html> Link</a>

IE: shows
FF: shows
O: shows
C: shows
S: shows

Meta refresh <meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=0;url=”http://www.examplesite.com/pageB.html”>

IE: blank
FF: blank
O: shows
C: shows
S: shows

Slow meta refresh <meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”5; URL=http://www.examplesite.com/pageB.html”>

IE: blank
FF: blank
O: shows
C: shows
S: shows

DMR – Double Meta Refresh
Page 1 – <meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=0;url=”http://www.examplesite.com/pageB.html”>
Page 2 – <meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=0;url=”http://www.examplesite.com/pageB.html”>

IE: blank
FF: blank
O: shows
C: shows
S: shows

PHP Header Replace
header(‘Location: http://www.examplesite.com/pageB.html‘);

IE: blank/shows*
FF: blank/shows*
O: blank/shows*
C: blank/shows*
S: blank/shows*

*Warning, only works if direct navigation to redirect page (page2.php) otherwise shows page that linked to redirect page (page1.php). Basically it takes on the exact referrer of the page referred to it. So if the page that referred to it is blank it’ll pass blank, if the page referred to it had a referrer it’ll preserve that referrer.

Javascript Location Replace
<head>
<script language=”javascript”><!–
location.replace(“http://www.examplesite.com/pageB.html”)
//–>
</script>
</head>

IE: blank
FF: shows
O: shows
C: shows
S: shows

Javascript Automatic Form Submit
<head>
</head>
<body>
<form name=”myform” action=”http://www.examplesite.com/pageB.html” method=”get”></form>
<script language=”javascript”><!–
document.myform.submit()
//–>
</script>

IE: shows
FF: shows
O: shows
C: shows
S: shows

Javascript Automatic Link Click
<body onload=”javascript:document.links[0].click();”>
<a href=”http://www.examplesite.com/pageB.html”></a>

IE: shows
FF: doesn’t work
O: doesn’t work
C: doesn’t work
S: doesn’t work

Javascript Window Location Redirect
<script type=”text/javascript”> window.location = “http://www.examplesite.com/pageB.html” </script>

IE: blank
FF: shows
O: shows
C: shows
S: shows

Site in iFrame
<iframe src =”http://www.examplesite.com/pageB.html” width=”100%” height=”100% frameborder=0 scrolling=”0” >
<p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p>
</iframe>

IE: shows
FF: shows
O: shows
C: shows
S: shows

Anonym.to
http://anonym.to/?http://www.examplesite.com/pageB.html

IE: blank
FF: blank
O: shows referrer
C: shows referrer
S: shows referrer

Referer.us
http://referer.us/http://www.examplesite.com/pageB.html

IE: blank
FF: blank
O: blank
C: blank
S: blank

Javascript Parent Location
<iframe src=”javascript:parent.location=’http://www.examplesite.com/pageB.html’” style=”visibility:hidden”></iframe>

IE: blank
FF: shows
O: blank
C: blank
S: blank

iFrame Parent Post
<script>
function go(){
window.frames[0].document.body.innerHTML=’<form target=”_parent” action=”http://www.examplesite.com/pageB.html”></form>’;
window.frames[0].document.forms[0].submit()
}
</script>
<iframe onload=”window.setTimeout(‘go()’, 99)” src=”about:blank” style=”visibility:hidden”></iframe>

IE: blank
FF: blank
O: blank
C: blank
S: blank

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According to Gmail Team
“The way people use and experience the web is evolving, and our goal is to give you a more seamless and consistent online experience — one that works no matter which Google product you’re using or what device you’re using it on. The new Google experience that we’re working toward is founded on three key design principles – Focus, Elasticity, Effortlessness.”

1. Cleaner, more modern

From improved conversations to more customization and updated themes, Gmail is now cleaner and more modern.

2. New themes

There are many Gmail themes to choose from, but few of them are actually usable. Gmail added 5 new themes: Basic Black, Basic White, Tree Tops, Marker and Android.
Even if you’re not an Android fan or you don’t have an Android phone, you should really try the Android theme. It’s simple, stylish and you can still read your messages.

3. Improved conversation view

Conversations have been redesigned to bring the content of your messages to the forefront, and profile pictures make it easier to see who you’re talking with at a glance.

4. Customizable in new ways

You can now choose how many messages are on your screen at a time by choosing from three different display densities: Comfortable, Cozy and Compact.

5. More control

And you also have more control over the size of your chat window. Just drag it to the desired size

6. Search and filters made simple

The new search box makes it easy to customize your search and find exactly what you’re looking for. You can also create a filter right from the same place.

7. Switch to Contacts and Tasks

There is a new way to easily swap between Mail, Contacts, and Tasks.

8. A new toolbar

The new toolbar is always visible and only shows you the buttons you need when you need them.

Watch the video to get an overview of the improvements.
httpsv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfW5e6jVsMs

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Google is now alerting Gmail users about the impending retirement of its Buzz service. The notification in a yellow box reads, “Google Buzz is going away, but your posts are yours to keep” and directs users to a page that provides further information on how users can port their Google Buzz data.
Google had, about two weeks ago, announced that it is shutting down the controversial social networking product. The shut-down comes as part of Google’s housecleaning effort announced in early September, in which the company said it will shut down a number of products and merging others into existing products as features.
In about two weeks from now, users will no longer be able to create any new posts on Google Buzz. While the Google Buzz content created/shared by users will remain on their Google Profiles, they also have the option to download their Buzz data via Google Takeout, a Google service that allows users to download a copy of thewir data stored within Google products.

“Changing the world takes focus on the future, and honesty about the past. We learned a lot from products like Buzz, and are putting that learning to work every day in our vision for products like Google+,” said Google in a blog post.
Google Buzz, a social networking and messaging tool integrated into Gmail service, has been widely criticised for privacy concerns and held back the search giant from expanding its businesses to the social networking space. After Buzz, Google launched Google+ in June, which has been receiving a good response and passed the 40 million user mark, the company’s chief executive officer Larry Page said.

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update [table_name] set [field_name] = replace([field_name],’[string_to_find]‘,’[string_to_replace]‘);

like update user set name = replace(name,’Dr.’,'Mr.’);

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