A "Coming Soon" or "Under Construction" page serves as a temporary placeholder that prevents public access to your website while it is still being developed or tested on the hosting server.
When you access your website, servers typically look for the following default pages in this order:
index.htmindex.htmlindex.phpdefault.htm
To Create an Under Construction Page:
- Log in to your cPanel.
- Navigate to the File Manager and open the root folder (use
public_htmlfor the primary domain). - Click on New File and name it appropriately, e.g.,
underconstruction.html. - Click Create New File.
To Edit an Under Construction Page:
- Select the filename and click on HTML Editor.
- Create the page, including your relevant contact information and a brief description of your company/products.
- Save your changes.
To Change the Default Index Page in .htaccess:
-
The
.htaccessfile is a hidden text file that can alter your website's default behavior. -
In File Manager, click on Web Root (for addon domains, select the appropriate domain from the dropdown).
-
Ensure Show Hidden Files is checked.
-
Click Go.
-
Right-click on the
.htaccessfile. -
Select the Edit option and paste the following code at the top, using your filename (e.g.,
underconstruction.html):#Alternate default index page DirectoryIndex underconstruction.html -
Save your changes.
-
Test the page online to confirm it displays correctly.
Additional .htaccess Information:
As an extra precaution, you can add more filenames to the code above. The server will check them in order from left to right. For example:
#Alternate default index page
DirectoryIndex underconstruction.html index.htm index.html index.php default.htm