TIP 219: Handling Invisible Files

It's common for a Web designer to use text files called .htaccess to control visitor access to special directories on the Web server. If you're not familiar with these files, you can check the documentation that comes with Apache, a popular Web server, or contact your hosting provider for assistance.

Configuring a Web server with these .htaccess files is relatively simple and very common, but it poses a real nuisance for Mac users. The problem is that Mac OS X treats any file that begins with a period as an invisible file. Previous versions of GoLive and the Mac OS X Finder won't display these hidden files without special tricks and workarounds. The good news is that GoLive CS2 understands that these invisible files are important to the work of a Web designer and displays them just as you'd expect in the Files tab of the Site window (Figure 219).

Figure 219. The Finder doesn't display the .htaccess file, but GoLive gives you what you want.