The chances are that your webspace from your ISP has index.php set as a higher priority to find than index.html, if the file is not explicitly stated in the URL you use to point at your site. You'll need to go into your webspace control panel and work from there. Usually you can re-assign priorities

So ... uh ... what would you like to happen when someone goes to your domain name? Basically just tell the back office that your main blog is "default on index.php" or something like that and it'll be what they see when they go to your domain name.

Depending on your server config, though most *should* go to index.php before they go to default.php is what I mean.

Oh and I really don't think you can get index.html to be your blog. .html is a boring old-school regular page. Blogs are interactive dynamic content, so you need an interactive dynamic content 'language' to get it all shiny.

http://www.blogswithwings.com/index.php :)

I must not be making sense I guess - cuz before I upgraded this worked. I have homepage (index.html) I want that to be the index that people default to for my domain name. I want to have links to my blog on this home page. It would be a static page I guess. Can this not be done?

I'm starting to feel really blonde again...

Yeah it can. First off you probably shouldn't have your default blog set to "none". But the thing that is not being your friend is that your server is NOT looking for index.html before it looks for others of the "seven official holy we look for these names if the visitor doesn't give a name" pages.

Way back in the day, and possibly still today, the "generally always the way" way was to say ... uh ... lemme back up.

If someone goes to domain.com that means they are not looking for a specific file. So your server has to figure out which file to give them. So it has a list. There is a customary list of file names it looks for, but the list is not the law and can be changed by your server, and then changed again by you. Maybe.

index.html
index.htm

Those used to be #1 and #2. After that I think it was index.php then default.php then the 3 mystery names that the CIA uses to spy on regular people having phone sex. Or something like that.

Did you rename sample.htaccess to .htaccess? Just curious! I don't really know what that means but b2evolution gives you a sample file that you might want to rename. The .htaccess file is magical. It can do almost anything including changing which filename your server will look for if a visitor doesn't identify a file name.

I'd start with making sure you have a default blog selected just because. Then I'd delete the file that b2evolution provided called "default.php". Actually rename it just in case deleting it makes things go from "this sucks" to "OMG this makes 'this sucks' look good!"

OMG I followed those clean link instructions and renamed sample.htaccess to .htaccess and it disappeared. No don't laugh, it did. The rename went really well and then when I went to look for it in file manager it was gone, but the blogs still worked so I figured that was what suppose to happen.

Is it bad? Did the CIA take the damn thing.

Is there some other way to make a static home page that won't make me keep getting blonder by the minute?

My hair hurts.

And yes I have a default blog selected now.

The file is hiding from Authorities. Everything sounds just fine.

Good luck

If you are using any version of Dreamweaver and various other FTP programs you will find that filenames that start with a period (or sometimes underscore) are hidden by default. This can then have the irritating effect of making renamed files apparently disappear.

Indeed in Dreamweaver I've never found a way to show them on the remote site so for manipulating .htaccess I always use another FTP client, in my case FireFTP which always shows these files.

Most ftp software hides .foo files, you need to find a checkbox that says summat along the lines of "ffs, I know what I'm doing huh? show me the files that *you* deem may be harmful to my web if I alter them" ;)

¥

filthio, yur a genius - I was using my web hosts cPanel app and could not see the file, so on my desktop, with my trusty ftp program Cyberduck, I found a view hidden files option and now I can see the renamed file. Learn sumptin new everyday. Thank you for that.

Ihave given up the whole idea of a static homepage and am going to tweak the blog design to include the elements I want to make sure are seen on the default blog. Seems the easiest way around the whole mess.

Thanks to all who tried to help me out, I appreciate your kindness.

blog_angel wrote:

filthio, yur a genius

8| if he's a genius then I'm ... urm, what level comes after genius? .... there must be one below "god" ... surely? :roll:

¥

Hmm I was thinking, if I use the summary.php option in a blog, and don't post directly to this blog, set it to default - then it will display a summary of my other 3 blogs - right? Which would kinda be what I was trying to do with a static home page.

Am I on the right track?

Alternative is to setup an aggregate blog ( create new blog > advanced, slap in a comma separated list of ID's ), then you can choose widgets that just suit home page ( and "Free HTML" [their caps] widget is your friend ;) ) ... ohhh yeah, and make it the default blog on index.php ;)

¥

Okay, not sure exactly what you mean, my geek speak is not as fully developed as I'd like it to be, but I think I understand. I shall attempt the feat and report back.

I'd be lost without this Forum!

Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Its gonna take some tweakin, but I think this just might work out.

Many thanks again (I know too polite, but I'm Canadian, they revoke your citizenship if you are even remotely rude!)

Have you noticed how one revelation seems to trigger more crisis situations? This is working, but my blog IDs are all backwards and my blog list is not in the right order. Is there an easy way to change the blog IDs? I can't seem to find it in the back office.

Glad it's working out for you. And I'm still reeling with delight at your flattery. I might see if I can find another Canadian to give advice to.

Not quite sure what you mean about backwards blog IDs- can you give some examples?

filthio wrote:

I might see if I can find another Canadian to give advice to.

Is this the start of a Canadian Usergroup?

:roll:

What I mean is that the auto generated menu at the top of the page puts everything in order by blog id. And since I just created my static home page, it has id 5 and shows up at the end of the list. Logically it should be first.

Canadian user group, eh? Sounds promising and just oozing with politeness.