How to test host a site?

Hi there. I couldn't find any information while searching for this because I don't know if there is actually a name for this but...
Basically I just want to be able to upload site content, play around with it, beta test it, without having it publicly accessible.

I'm sure this is a pretty basic question. I noticed there was a "Beginners" category but it mentioned being new to the internet, which I certainly am not. :)

Thanks for any help! I will try to answer some questions around here so as to be useful myself as well.

You can use .htaccess deny rules to stop everyone but you being able to see stuff you're working on.

order deny,allow
deny from all
allow from x.x.x.x

(Change x.x.x.x to your current IP).

Put that in a .htaccess file in any directory that you want to remain private - even in your domain.com folder if you like. It's easy to edit over FTP if your IP changes, and you don't have to mess about with passwords, etc.




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