everybody knows that if you put index.html in a directory the browser will show it, and not the directory view.

My homepage will be in PHP, when I put it as index.php browsers give a directory view, obviously not what i want. What do i put in the root directory to show as my homepage??? (i really dont want an index.html containing a javascript redir)

Do I need to write a PHP script to periodically create a static index.html file? I would rather not do something this complicated if it can be avoided

Thanks for any feedback

use this index.htm don't put L at the end

but index.htm will not parse the php code, wont it?

Sounds like a configuration issue with your web server, it should use index.php if present. Check with your hosting people.

create an .htaccess file if you dont have one already and put the following code;
to stop showing a directory:
Options -Indexes
To make index.php the main page:
DirectoryIndex index.php
if you make it like this...
DirectoryIndex index.php otherpage.php index.html it will search for the index.php first and if that doesnt exist then it looks for otherpage.php and finally index.html if both of the pages dont exist.

The .htaccess file will affect the folder it is in and all subfolders below it unless the subfolders contain thier own .htaccess file

i'd say it the servers or php's fault ... what happends if (when you see the directory tree), you click the .php files? is php code interpreted or not?

if not talk to the hosting people about it ....
if it is interpreted ... also talk to the hosting people about it.

index.php should be displayed if present, if not it should go with index.htm ... but not the other way around.

If your hosting company proves to be reluctant then you can also parse .html files with the php interpreter with .htaccess as well. Just let me know if you need to go this route (unlikely).

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Ill think ill do some research into the .htaccess files, id like to have to have the control myself rather than talking to the host, whereever possible.

in this case i would rather talk to the host and find a good solution than look for a work-around...

the .htaccess stuff is pretty straight forward once you understand it. if you need any help let me know. The other advantage to .htaccess is its independance of the host. not matter what your host has default you can change the directory settings locally.

@cptnwinky
The only problem with parsing php within html file is that every html file will be parsed as php, increasing your page load times slightly. but if you dont expect a signifcant amount of traffic then it really doesnt matter.