Keep website private while developing

Hey guys,

I’d like to go ahead and get my hosting and start developing my website online. What’s the best way to keep it private and hidden from users/google while I do this?

Thanks

Thanks, I spent some today setting up a local server so I’ll just use that for now.

I agree 100%. Having a localhost server is way easier than uploading - testing - editing - uploading - testing …

Even if you can’t get your localhost server configured exactly like what you’ll end up with for a live server, you should be able to get things close enough for initial developing.

You don’t need hosting to develop the website–that is just as, if not more, easily done locally.

I always password protect them using a .htaccess file.
For a tutorial on that: http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/htaccess/3

This assumes you’re running Apache. For IIS it won’t work AFAIK.