.htaccess File Good Or Bad?

[myvv]

Currently I'm building my X-Cart based ecommerce site and I've become concerned with their use of "home.php" as the default home page. I've been advised I'll need to modify the .htaccess file to change the default/index page to "home.php".

Will this process affect my rankings and if so how and why? Also what do you suggest I do to avoid this issue? Perhaps a static html index.htm page directing you to the X-Cart pages?

[bhartzer]

I'm not sure if you should do this in the .htaccess file. It's probably better to modify the http.conf file instead.

If you change it in the http.conf file, most users cannot change that file easily so they'll leave it alone. Otherwise, many users have access to change the .htaccess file.

[fathom]

Originally Posted by myvv

Currently I'm building my X-Cart based ecommerce site and I've become concerned with their use of "home.php" as the default home page. I've been advised I'll need to modify the .htaccess file to change the default/index page to "home.php".

Will this process affect my rankings and if so how and why? Also what do you suggest I do to avoid this issue? Perhaps a static html index.htm page directing you to the X-Cart pages?

This is simply "DO NOT USE HTML GENERATION" - it will work fine without it.

The mainpage .php is only the first problem - the carts breadcrumb trail - is also exclusively .php thus a .htaccess re-direct or mod re-rewrite doesn't change anything.

Also while bhartzer's comment is normally a good suggestion (change it in the http.conf file) it is not recommend here - as order forms are .php as well and you will likely lose more orders that you get because of compatibility issues.

[bhartzer]

Fathom's right. Thanks for straightening me out!