Hey gang,
I just thought I would throw up here some info that you hear little about, and that is how to parse HTML files without using the shtml extension. "Why would you parse", well if you use Server Side Includes (SSI) you need to search the HTML file and execute the code, so Ironwings NewCal will show up on your homepage, and whoson will post the last 10 posts.....you catch my drift.
Using the shtml tag, you label your file to be parsed, but you also let everyone know that there is a script running in the background, which can be a security risk. What this trick does is label your html file, but allows you to keep your normal file extension (htm/html).
THIS MAY NOT WORK ON EVERY SERVER! I think this only works with Apache. Some ISPs choose not to have this option. This command makes the server running Apache backwards compatible and some think it is obsolete., but I love it.
Step 1. Open up your .htaccess file in a text editor and remove all references to parsing shtml files. Stuff like
AddType text/html .shtml
AddHandler server-parsed .shtml
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks Includes
Step 2: Add this to a new line
XBitHack on
Step 3: chmod the html file that has the SSI call to 744. This tags the file to be parsed.
Hope you find this useful.
astro-pilot