Testing your host to see if it parses php in html files and allows mod rewrites

1. Download these zip files and load them up onto a separate folder on your site (best to set it up in a separate folder so it's easy to erase later on) - click here to download

2. There are 3 files :
- phpparse.html
- phpparse.php
- htaccess1.txt

3. Rename htaccess1.txt and call it .htaccess (REMEMBER the DOT in front of htaccess)

4. Now run phpparse.html - if your host parses php in html files (which is just the fancy way of saying when it reads a html file and finds php code in it, it will read that section as php and not as html), you will see the text :

Hello, your host supports parsing php in html pages
Click here to see if it supports mod rewrites

If it doesn't support php parsing, you'll see

Click here to see if it supports mod rewrites

5. Now click on the link and see if there's any other text displayed (this is the test for mod rewrites).  If your host supports mod rewrites you will see the text :

Great news, the answer is yes your host does support mod rewrites

Otherwise if it doesn't, you'll get an error 404 page.

I've been asked to suggest some hosts that DO have the above capabilities and they are :
1. www.websiteforme.com - also has cron jobs functions included (another tutorial altogether) - in other words, you can actually set the update datafeed script to run every day or every week or whatever at a certain time - so it runs on automatic in other words.  I do this with most of my datafeed scripts on my sites (I'm forgetful like that).  Tutorial on cron jobs is in the works.

2. www.linksky.com (Yes I'm an affiliate of theirs and this is an affiliate link) - mydatafeedscripts is hosted with LinkSky and I've really had very little complaints against them.  Joseph is great support wise and their prices are VERY reasonable and great value for money.  If you want to run cron jobs then you'll have to go with the LinkSky Ultra package, otherwise the other 2 packages work just as well.