.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/simp...rl-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?

[Cliff Dude]

Ah, thanks. All questions have been answered.