Web Dev, Linux, WordPress & More

Archive for the ‘Web Design’ Category

Web Developer Toolbar Upgrade

by eric on February 1st, 2007 in: Web Design

There’s a new, improved version of the Web Developer Toolbar for Firefox, thanks to Chris Pederick.

Read more at:

Download the updated extension at:

For tips on using this extension, search this site for ‘Web Developer Toolbar.’

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Installing Local Web Servers

by eric on January 27th, 2007 in: Web Design

It’s cheap and easy to install web server software on your computer for developing and testing websites or web applications.

While previewing static html pages in a browser will give an accurate depiction of how they’ll look, sites that include dynamic server-side technologies like PHP, Perl, ASP, MySQL, or Ruby, must be running on a web server to be previewed accurately.

There many free, open-source web server solutions for PC, Mac, or Linux users.

Following are three Apache-based distributions that aim to make it easier for server rookies to install, configure and run web server software on local computers.

Read more…

Get Blogging with WordPress 2.1

by eric on January 25th, 2007 in: Web DesignWordPress

The long-awaited WordPress 2.1 has just been released and is brimming with improvements.

If you haven’t heard, WordPress is one of the coolest blogging platforms available. It’s easy to install, even easier to use, and quite simple to customize with a little knowledge of CSS, HTML and (for the adventurous) some basic PHP.
Read more…

Prevent File Browsing with .htaccess

by eric on January 21st, 2007 in: LinuxOther StuffWeb Design

Need to block access to a directory on your site?

If your hosting environment runs the Apache web server, you can simply create an .htaccess file in the directory you’d like to protect and insert the following code:

Options -Indexes

For example, say you’ve created a sub-folder on your site to hold images. Without protection, a user could visit http://yoursite.com/images/ and see a directory listing of the files and folders in the images directory.

By simply creating a file with the above line and saving it as .htaccess in the images directory, users will get an error rather than a directory listing when they visit the URL.

For more info on .htaccess, visit the Apache website.

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Create custom error pages using .htaccess

by eric on January 19th, 2007 in: LinuxWeb Design

If you’re running a site on Apache’s web server, you can easily create custom error pages using Apache’s .htaccess file.

First, create or edit an .htaccess file in your public_html directory so that it has the following lines in it:

ErrorDocument 404 /myerrors/404.html
ErrorDocument 403 /myerrors/403.html
ErrorDocument 500 /myerrors/500.html

Here’s what each piece does:

Read more…