.htaccess

[Cliff Dude]

Is .htaccess absolutely needed for forums to work, or is it not required?

Also, what DOES .htaccess do anyway?

 

[tittat]

it depends according to your needs.
Which forum do you wish to implement?
If you want to use url rewriting or FURL(friendly URL) for SEO(Search Engine optimisation) .htaccess is reqired.

 

[rockee]

There is no one liner to explain this so I include some reading that might help.

Perhaps this link to the official Apache Manual site may help with this subject:
Apache Tutorial for .htaccess files

Also this Google search has many explanations form many different people.

Regards,
Rocky

 

[Cliff Dude]

Which forum do you wish to implement?

phpBB3 or SMF.

 

[tittat]

there is URL rewriting facility for PhpBB3 .As i told in my previous post .htaccess file is required for URL rewriting for SEO.
http://www.phpbb-seo.com/boards/simple-seo-url/simple-phpbb3-seo-url-vt1566.html

 

[marshian]

a htaccess basicly just tells the server who is and who isn't allowed to view your site

 

[LHVWB]

a htaccess basicly just tells the server who is and who isn't allowed to view your site

It can also do some other cool stuff, like redirect people, set-up error pages and include front-page extensions.

 

[Cliff Dude]

Is .htaccess absolutely needed for forums to work, or is it not required?

So, it is absolutely required for the forum to work?

 

[dWhite]

So, it is absolutely required for the forum to work?

Pretty much. Forum software is designed around the use of .htaccess files for restrictions, search engine bots, SEO, ip denial, etc...

 

[Cliff Dude]

Ah, thanks. All questions have been answered.

 

[cowctcat]

Closing