Are you busy developing your website, and you want a “Coming Soon” or “Under Construction” page to keep it hidden from the public?

By default, servers will look for specific pages to display when someone tries to access your website. Here’s the order of priority:

• index.htm
• index.html
• index.php
• default.htm

To create your “Under Construction” page:

• Log in to your cPanel.
• Go to the File Manager and find the root folder (if it’s the main domain, use the “public HTML” folder).
• Click on “New File” and give it a name like “underconstruction.html”.
• Hit that “Create New File” button.

Editing your “Under Construction” page:

• Select the filename you just created and click on “HTML Editor.”
• Design the page and make certain to include all your contact info and a short paragraph about your company and products.

Don’t forget to save it!

You can also change the default index page using the powerful .htaccess file.

The .htaccess file can modify how your website behaves.

• In the File Manager, click on “Web Root” (if you have addon domains, use the dropdown and select the right domain name).
• Tick the box to “Show Hidden Files.” 
• Click “Go”.
• Now, right-click on the .htaccess file and select “Edit.”
• Paste the following code at the beginning of the file (use your filename, like “underconstruction.html”):

           #Alternate default index page
           DirectoryIndex underconstruction.html

• Save your changes.

To be sure everything is working, give it a test online.

An additional tip about the .htaccess file:

You can add more filenames to the code we just used. The server will check them in order from left to right. Here is an example:

              #Alternate default index page
              DirectoryIndex underconstruction.html index.htm index.html index.php default.htm

That’s it! Your “Coming Soon” or “Under Construction” page is ready.