This simple process takes place in your Bluehost control panel. First, follow the instructions in Part 5: Logging into Your BlueHost Control Panel.

Now, follow this process to rename the htaccess.txt file:

1. Click on the File Manager icon in the Files section of the control panel.

2. The File Manager Directory Selection box should open up. In the "Document Root for:" drop-down, select the domain name where your website resides.

3. Check the "Show Hidden Files" box. This will come in handy for verification of the new file name. That is, when changing from htaccess.txt to .htaccess, the latter becomes a hidden file.

4. Click the Go button.

5. All of the items in the left panel of the File Manager are the main directories for your account. You will almost always work with files within the "public_html" directory. In fact, you will find all of the folders for each one of your websites (including sub-domains, add-on domains, parked domains, etc.) within the public_html directory. A nice feature of this File Manager is that you already selected the website from the drop-down and all of the files and folders are conveniently located on the right side!

6. Scroll down past the folders in the right panel until you find the file named "htaccess.txt".

7. Left click on this file and a small box should pop up with the file name shaded. Just type the new file name, ".htaccess" over the old. Be sure to include the leading dot.

8. Click the OK button when you have changed the name.

9. If you did not get the convenient pop-up box to change the name, just select the file and click the "Rename" icon at the top. A box will open that will prompt you to change the name. Be sure to change it to ".htaccess".

10. Assuming that you checked the "Show Hidden Files" box in step 3, you will see the file ".htaccess" within the list of files. Be sure that it's spelled correctly! It should look like this when you are done:

11. Logout of your BlueHost control panel.

Now it's time to log back into your Joomla website. Follow the instruction in Part 8: Logging into Your Joomla Website. Follow the instruction for accessing the SEO Settings. Now change "Search Engine Friendly URL's" and "Use Apache mod_rewrite" to Yes. Now when you develop pages within your website, the URL's can include keywords that will help with search engine optimization!

Part 10: Joomla Extensions

Table of Contents for this Series