Eric Blackwell wrote here of using Custom Permalinks in WordPress by going to the WordPress Dashboard Settings page
Clicking the Permalinks tab, then checking Custom Structure
And typing this short piece of code:
/%postname%/
Then click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.
Now click View Site, click on one of your post titles …. and if your blog is hosted on GoDaddy, what you will see next is a 404 error
Eric suggested FTP uploading a blank .htaccess file. I experimented with a couple of my “cat blogs” and found it wasn’t neccessary.
Here’s why: When I clicked on the post title, the system automatically created an .htaccess file.
However, it takes a certain amount of time for the new .htaccess file to be recognized by the GoDaddy servers. This is true even if you manually create a new .htaccess file and upload it yourself.
The average wait on the blogs I tested was 30 minutes.
So, here are Eric’s instructions modified for GoDaddy
1. Click Settings
2. Click Permalinks
3. At Custom Structure type /%postname%/, click Save Changes
4. Click View Site
5. Click on any post tile
6. See 404 error
7. Go out and water the garden, play with your dog, or watch TV.
8. Come back in about 1 hour, view site again, click post title again. Bingo, now it works.
And here’s the reason I found in one forum: new .htaccess files are only processed once per hour by GoDaddy – From my limited testing it seems it occurs at the top of the hour….
June 29th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Thanks again, Cheryl. after I saved settings, I got a message “you should update your .htaccess now.”
What does this mean?
June 29th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Are you still getting the message?
June 29th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
If so, I’d probably take it off custom structure for now.
June 29th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Sorry for delay in responding Cheryl – my pages are still a 404 after about 3 hours.
john
June 29th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
I think it is probably beyond my expertise. If you FTP into your site, can you see the .htaccess file?
Eric Blackwell may know the answer. You could email him thru his post on BloodhoundBlog linked above.
Also, Googling “wordpress permalink htaccess godaddy” will bring up a lot of interesting information
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4DKUS_enUS273US273&q=wordpress+permalink+htaccess+godaddy
June 29th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Thanks Cheryl. I have no idea what you mean about FTP into the site. Can you email me rather than commenting here? johnsabia@gmail.com
July 5th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Dude,
You Rock!
Thanks so much for the post, I was like WTF!?
Now I can eat some lunch and relax for a few.
Anyone else hate GoDaddy??
Thanks,
Lisa
July 14th, 2008 at 11:55 am
I don’t get a 404 when I click on a link that already exists. I get an Internal Server Error. Same difference as the 404? Or is it because I am using the 2nd option permalink structure instead of /%postname%/ ?
July 16th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Very Good