What Is the .htaccess File in WordPress Plus How to Use It

You can accomplish a lot in WordPress without ever leaving your dashboard. If you want to get the most out of your website, however, it pays to learn about what’s happening behind the scenes. A vital first step in that process is understanding how to use the .htaccess file in WordPress.Your WordPress site relies on several important ‘core files’ to do its job, and the .htaccess file is one of them. While by default it only performs a few tasks related to your site’s permalinks, it can be added to and customized to carry out all sorts of useful functions like redirecting visitors to your site or beefing up your sites security.In this post, we’re going to introduce you to the .htaccess file and explain what it’s all about. Then, youll learn how to find the .htaccess file in WordPress, as well as some of the helpful things you can do with it. The .htaccess file is a configuration file for the Apache web server (which is what most WordPress hosts use).  In other words, it contains rules that give your website’s server various instructions. Just about every WordPress site has an .htaccess file, located in the ‘root’ or central directory. It’s a hidden file (which is why the filename begins with a period), and has no extension.By default, the .htaccess file in WordPress handles one major task:It controls how your site’s permalinks are displayed. If you make a change to your permalink structure, therefore, the .htaccess file updates with new instructions for the server. In fact, sometimes the .htaccess file isn’t actually created on your site until the first time you customize your permalinks.On many sites, this is all the .htaccess file ever does. However, you can also use it to make various tweaks to your site’s functionality. For example, you can set up 301 redirects in the .htaccess file. You can also use it to tighten security, such as by restricting access to your site and other core files.Additionally, some plugins will add their own rules to your  .htaccess file to help the plugin function. This is especially common with caching or security plugins.If this seems a little abstract, don’t worry. You won’t need to understand all the technical details in order to find and make changes to the .htaccess file in WordPress.How to locate and edit the .htaccess file in WordPressBefore we go any further, we need to discuss a few safety measures. It’s important to understand that making changes to your site’s files directly can be risky. If you aren’t careful, you can end up breaking factors that control your sites key functionality, or even bring down your site altogether.There are a few ways to mitigate these risks:Back up your site before editing any of its files. This way, you can quickly reverse unintentional changes and mistakes.Use a staging site to test your edits before performing them on your live site. On a stagi ng site, you’re free to experiment without any worries.Download the  .htaccess file to your local computer before making any edits. That way, if you specifically break something in your  .htaccess  file, you just need to upload the original copy to fix the issue.To access the.htaccess file in WordPress, youll need to make a direct connection to your website through File Transfer Protocol (FTP). You’ll need an FTP client, such as FileZilla, and some FTP credentials from your web host. If you aren’t sure how to do this, our beginner’s guide to FTP will walk you through the process.Once FileZilla is connected to your site, you’ll see a window that looks like this:Check out the top-right quadrant. You should see a folder named after your site’s domain – this is the root directory. Select this folder, and check out the list of folders and files located immediately below it:The .htaccess file should be listed here, usually as one of t he first entries. To open it:Right-click on itSelect View/Edit to open the file in your computers default text editorYou can now make whatever changes you like to the file using your text editor. Once youre done:Save the fileClose the fileA window will pop up asking if you want to upload the new, edited version of your .htaccess file to the server. Select Yes, and your changes will take effect immediately.If you can’t find the .htaccess file in your root folder, it may not exist yet. You can prompt WordPress to generate one by visiting Settings Permalinks in your dashboard, and clicking on the Save Changes button (you don’t actually have to pick a different structure):When you re-open FileZilla and navigate to your websites root folder, the .htaccess file should now be there.What you can do with the .htaccess file in WordPressNow that you know where to find the .htaccess file in WordPress and how to edit it, you may be wondering what changes you can actually make. The re are a lot of things you can do with this file – too many to cover in one post. However, well look at a few examples to get you started.First, let’s talk about redirects. If you move a page or post – or your entire website – you’ll need to automatically direct users who visit the old URL to the new location. This requires setting up a 301 redirect, and is something you can do with the .htaccess file in WordPress.To redirect a single page, you can add this line to the bottom of your .htaccess file:Redirect 301 /oldpage.html http://www.yoursite.com/newpage.htmlReplace /oldpage.html with the pages old permalink, and the following URL with the new link to the page. You can add a new line for each page you’d like to redirect.You can also use similar snippets to redirect your entire website. Or, you can use a snippet to send all traffic to the secure HTTPS version of your site (if you have an SSL certificate  ).You can also use the .htaccess f ile to make a lot of security-related changes to your site. For example, you can add this code to deny unauthorized users access to several important core files:FilesMatch "^.*(error_log|wp-config\.php|php.ini|\.[hH][tT][aApP].*)$" Order deny,allow Deny from all /FilesMatchTo learn more about using the .htaccess file to improve security, you can check out the WordPress Codex entry on the subject. Just remember to back up your site and use a staging environment when trying out any changes!ConclusionLearning to work directly with your website’s files is an important step in your journey to becoming a WordPress expert. The .htaccess file is a good place to start, since it’s a relatively simple file that can nonetheless be used for wide variety of applications.Before you make any changes to the .htaccess file in WordPress, be sure to back up your site and use a staging environment just in case. Then, you can use FTP to access your site, find the .htaccess file, and edit it . Once you know how to do that, you can simply look up the code required to add whatever functionality you require.Do you have any questions about what you can do with the .htaccess file in WordPress? Let us know in the comments section below! Learn what the .htaccess file is in #WordPress. Plus some cool things you can do with it

The Worst College Essay Problems

The Worst College Essay ProblemsSo you've taken the plunge into writing a Penn-specific essay? You've written a really impressive essay, but how will you be able to sell it to admissions committees? This article discusses some common essay problems that students run into while preparing their essay and how to avoid them.Have you already learned the key concepts of your essay yet? In most cases, this is true, but often students forget that they still need to write a coherent summary of what they are trying to say. This is the most important part of the essay. So if you're running into problems with this part, start working on that first. There are two reasons why this is so important:The main reason why this step is so important is because it leads directly into the second one: making sure you've covered all of the major terms and phrases you'll need in your essay. You will want to make sure that you've covered all of these terms, phrases, and ideas. Doing this will help your reader u nderstand everything you are trying to say and save you a lot of time later.It is very easy to overlook a critical part of a student's essay while the rest of the work is focused on the other parts. However, if you don't, you risk having a rough outline for the rest of the project. Your title should give you a good idea of what your topic is and provide you with a strong title. Don't make this too long or too short - just get it right.This is probably the biggest and most obvious problem that students run into and it will be the main issue with most essays. There is nothing more annoying than the common practice of substituting certain words and phrases to make them sound better. Here are some examples of this:'The Play that plays on Broadway' vs. 'The Play that plays on Broadway''The product was so unique and spectacular' vs. 'The product was so unique and spectacular.'In order to avoid having these problems with your Penn-specific essay, remember that you should write an essay lik e this is how you would write any other essay. By focusing on the rules and structure of a standard essay, you can focus on making sure that your essay is as strong as possible.