I know deep down I’ve known this for years, but recently it’s been in my face more and more so I figured it was high time I embraced this truth: I am a web geek… and we are a special breed. 
That said, I do feel it a duty of mine to help my clients and biz friends understand in “normal people talk” what all the nerds talk about — even if it’s just understanding and not “I’m able to do it all myself now” kinda knowledge — b/c I see more and more that many of the people I work with really don’t want to have anything to do with all that tech geek stuff BUT I feel it is empowering to know what your chosen web geek is talking about, be it me or someone else. So… I’m introducing my own little web geek encyclopedia.
I’m going to attempt to cover topics that I know my clients have said “Whaaaa??” to me about in the past (and I totally welcome your suggestions, too!!). So… without further ado…
Victoria’s Web Geek Encyclopedia
Concept: Robot.txt files / .htaccess files and other server things like that.
Explanation: While I don’t expect non-tech nerds to even want to know what goes into server files like these, I think knowing what they are and what they are for is important.
These types of server files tell the non-human entities (i.e. browsers, robots, etc…) special things about your website. There is a lot of special code involved in these files — for .htaccess files for example, they give instructions like who gets access to what, where a certain url should go, and much more. The robot.txt files communicate information like telling the search engines what to look at and what to ignore (like a “hidden” folder or something).
Comparison: Think of driving on a highway in your town. When all is normal, the standard roadsigns will tell you where you should be going, what your options are for exits and general info you may need to get where you are going. But when the highway is under construction, you normally see additional signs, giving directions like “this exit closed, detour exit __” or “exit __ for local traffic only”. Those signs may be temporary (even if they are there for, like, years) but they give you the driver additional information about your drive that helps you navigate the special circumstances. That’s kinda what these server files do — they tell the “driver” (i.e. robots for example) special information about how your site is working so they can navigate it the way you want them to.
Common uses for these files: The most common use for the robot.txt file is to tell the robots from the search engines where your sitemap is, if they are allowed or not allowed to look at a page, or block a specific search engine or IP from your site (or just a section of it). It is good to have a robot.txt file on your server (one per domain or sub-domain) but make sure you or your web tech knows what’s in there. Just in case.
The most common use for an .htaccess file is to give proper access to special password protected areas of your site, redirect pages or sections to other places, block bad people or robots from accessing your site via IP address, or give a custom error message for bad URLs on your domain. It is good to have a proper .htaccess file on your server, but very important to only give editing access to trusted people and make sure everything in it is meant to be in it.
If those types of files are still a mystery to you, feel free to send me a comment and ask questions!!
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