Alternative Index Entries

Question: How do I configure my website to automatically go to a page other than index.***?

Answer: If your web hosting provider is hosting your site using Apache HTTP server, you can accomplish this very easily with an htaccess file. If you do not already have one, create a plain text file in your main web-accessible directory called .htaccess.

Next, use the DirectoryIndex directive followed by filenames you want to include. For example, if your server allows index.html index.htm and index.php but you want index.pl, enter on the first available line in the htaccess file:

DirectoryIndex index.html index.htm index.php index.pl

You can even specify a completely different word like “default.html” or “messageboard.php”. Just one simple line can go a long way in making your site feel the way you want it.

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