WordPress was the blogging management system of choice. However, with a big chunk of the website customized manually, I wanted to find a way to hide file extensions to maintain URL consistency across different enviroment. Besides that, it looks cleaner for the user, is easier to remember and increases the website findability.

With a bit of research, I’ve found that it’s possible to hide file extensions in URLs using .htaccess files. These files are very powerful and can do a bunch of other things, like:

• Define default error documents;
• Protect specific folders with passwords;
• Enable SSI – Server Side Includes – access;
• Block user access by IP, sites or referres;
• Change default directory page;
• Add MIME types;
• Prevent hot linking of images or other files;
• Prevent directory listing;

I’m not going to describe how to do all of that here. Nevertheless, I though it would be nice to add what other things it’s possible to do using .htaccess files. If you’re looking forward to do some of these other things I recommend you to visit

How to Hide File Extensions in URL Using .htaccess Files?

Create a file called “.htaccess”, include the piece of code below and upload the file to your site’s root directory. It looks simple, but some minor details can make this task seems a bit more complicated than it really is. Follow this four steps tutorial and you’re safe.

Keep in mind that some hosting companies do not allow use of .htaccess files. Depending on what they are doing, they can seriously slow down a server. I strongly recommend you to make sure you are allowed to use .htaccess before you actually use it.

Step 1. Open up a text editor and type the following code in it:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.php -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.php

This code snippet is set to remove extension from PHP files, but you can change it to whatever type of file you're using. You can remove any extension be it .html, .asp, .cfm, or anything else, as long as they're all the same type.

Step 2. Save the file as "temp.htaccess.txt".

Make sure you use an ASCII text editor, like Windows Notepad or Mac TextEdit.

Step 3. Upload the file to your site's root directory

The .htaccess file must be uploaded as ASCII mode, not BINARY. You may need to change the file permissions to 644 or (RW-R--R--). This makes the file usable by the server, but prevents it from being read by a browser, which can seriously compromise your security.

Step 4. Using your FTP software, rename the file from "temp.htaccess.txt" to ".htaccess".

On Unix and unix-like operating systems, files that start with a dot are hidden files, so you may not be able to see the file after you rename it. To get around this, look for the "show hidden files" feature on your FTP software of choice.

Job done! The .htaccess file will change the way URLs are written. From now on instead of typing http://site.com/contact.php, you only need to enter http://site.com/contact to access the same page.

However, if you like to have total control of your code, this feature can become a significant pain in you’re neck. In order to prevent WordPress from automatically adding <p> and </p> tags in your code, find the following line of code in your template file:

<?php the_content('<p>Read the rest of this page »</p>'); ?>

All you need to do is to add one line of code just before it, like this:

<?php remove_filter ('the_content', 'wpautop'); ?>
<?php the_content('<p>Read the rest of this page »</p>'); ?>

That’s it! This extra line of code will deactivate the wpautop function which is responsible for automatically changing double line-breaks into paragraphs.

After spending a fair amount of time looking at every corner of the WordPress back-end looking for a stop-adding-br-tags option without success, I did some research on the WordPress Help Center and confirmed the obvious, there is no such option.

Since my tweaking knowledge of WordPress is still limited, I was hoping that someone else had already found the solution. A few keywords later I hit Simon Battersby Blog that presented a relatively painless solution. Simon has found a variable inside the “formatting.php” file which allows you to turn off this annoying feature.

To fix this, download “formatting.php” from your server and search for the function “wpautop” in your text editor. You will find this:

function wpautop($pee, $br = 1)

Change it to this:

function wpautop($pee, $br = 0)

Then save the file, publish it back to your server and presto, no more annoying
tags! Works fine in WordPress version 2.9, but remember to change again if you update WordPress since it will restore the file to the original setting.

On previous articles, I compiled a list with the best Firefox add-ons for web design and the best Firefox add-ons for web development. Nevertheless, there still are some add-ons that don’t match those two categories but are extremely powerful. Take a look at some of the most popular add-ons for Firefox.

Delicious

Delicious bookmarks – formerly know as del.icio.us – is the perfect tool to manage your bookmarks online. It integrates your bookmarks with Firefox and keeps them in sync for easy and convenient access.

• Install from Mozilla website
• Visit author’s website

HootSuite

Hootsuite is the definitive Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn client. You can manage multiple accounts in just one easy-to-use interface. With the Hootlet Firefox Add-on you can share a URL – which is automatically shortened – on any of these social networks with just one click.

• Install from Mozilla website
• Visit author’s website

FoxClocks

FoxClocks it’s a lovely add-on if you want to keep an eye on the time around the world, It automatically inserts small clocks on your browser status bar. It’s the ideal companion for freelancers who have clients in different parts of the world.

• Install from Mozilla website
• Visit author’s website

StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is a fantastic tool to help you find stunning websites. The more you use the better recommendations you receive. With this add-on, this experience gets even better.

• Install from Mozilla website
• Visit author’s website

Wisestamp

WiseStamp is a tool to create HTML email signatures that can be use in Gmail, Google Apps, Yahoo, AOL and other webmail services. It’s the perfect tool to give a professional look and feel to your email signatures.

• Install from Mozilla website
• Visit author’s website

Ebay

This add-on is a fantastic tool to help you can keep an eye on your eBay activity. It’s official tool built by eBay with its own users in mind. It creates a dynamic sidebar with the items you are are selling or the ones you are eager to buy.

• Install from Mozilla website
• Visit author’s website

Firebug

Firebug is by far the most popular web development tool for Firefox. It provide powerful tools to edit, debug, and inspect HTML, CSS and JavaScript live in any web page.

• Install from Mozilla website
• Visit author’s website

CodeBurner

CodeBurner is a superb companion to Firebug Firefox add-on. It integrates seamlessly with Firebug extending it with reference material for HTML and CSS.

• Install from Mozilla website
• Visit author’s website

YSlow

YSlow is another excellent addition for Firebug Firefox add-on. It checks the performance of web pages based on the rules set by Yahoo and report back how can you make it faster.

• Install from Mozilla website
• Visit author’s website

Web Developer

The Web Developer add-on is quite popular among web designers and developers. It has some useful tools to develop websites.

• Install from Mozilla website
• Visit author’s website

FireFTP

FireFTP is a quite effective FTP client add-on for Mozilla Firefox. It’s fast and extremely easy-to-use.

• Install from Mozilla website
• Visit author’s website

ColorZilla

ColorZilla is the best friend of any web designer. With useful tools like an advanced eyedropper, a color picker and a measuring tool you will save a lot of time on your design projects.

• Install from Mozilla website
• Visit author’s website

GridFox

GridFox is a great Firefox addon that allows you to overlay a customizable grid on top of a website. This is a brilliant tool to check designs that follow a grid-based layout.

• Install from Mozilla website
• Visit author’s website

Abduction!

Abduction is a cool extension that allows you to take screenshots of your web pages. Excellent when you need a whole page screenshot to add in your portfolio.

• Install from Mozilla website
• Visit author’s website

MeasureIt

MeasureIt it’s a fairly convenient add-on that creates a ruler on top of the browser page, so you can verify width, height and alignment of its content.

• Install from Mozilla website
• Visit author’s website

Dummy Lipsum

Dummy Lipsum is Firefox add-on that generates “Lorem Ipsum” dummy text taken from Lorem Ipsum website. When the cursor is in a form field, a menu option appears in the context menu.

• Install from Mozilla website
• Visit author’s website