How to Force SSL Connections with a Website

You can force visitors of your website to use SSL connections (HTTPS) if your web server uses Apache for its web services. Most web hosting providers use Apache for their Linux servers. To automatically redirect someone to the SSL (HTTPS) version of your website place the following at the top level of your website directory inside of a file named .htaccess:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !^on$ [NC]
RewriteRule . https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L]

Alternatively, you can use this instead:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} !443$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.example.com/$1 [L,R]

How to Change the SFTP Port In Dreamweaver CS3

When you set up a SFTP server connection for a website in Dreamweaver, the default port used is 22. If you want to use a different port then you need to add a “:portNumber” at the end of the “FTP Host” address field. For example, suppose your web server has an address of www.foo.com and SFTP has been configured on the server to listen on port 1234. In Dreamweaver you need to set the FTP host address to “www.foo.com:1234”.

This technique may work for other versions of Dreamweaver but I am not sure. I have only tested this with Dreamweaver CS3.

How to Add a Checkbox and Other Form Controls to an Excel 2007 Spreadsheet

Excel 2007 changed the menu system. You can only add form controls by using the “Developer” tab in the menu ribbon. By default the “Developer” tab is disabled. To enable the developer tab do the following:

  1. Click the circular Microsoft Office icon in the upper left corner of the Excel program
  2. Click the “Excel Options” button
  3. Select the left menu option “Popular”
  4. Check the option “Show the developer tab in the ribbon”
  5. Now the developer tab will appear on the ribbon. You can select the tab and press the “Insert” button to display check boxes and other form controls which can now be inserted into the spreadsheet.