htaccess Boilerplate for Wordpress Sites. This is a combination of techniques that I have learned over the last few years as well as some snippets from the HTML5 Boilerplate. This ApacheConf file includes; proper UTF-8 encoding, ETag removal, Persistent connections, Proper www rewrite, website.com/login to wp-admin, 3 different GZIP compression …

.htaccess

# Apache Configuration file
# www.lighthouselutherie.com/.htaccess

# Use UTF-8 encoding for anything served as `text/html` or `text/plain`.
AddDefaultCharset utf-8
# Force UTF-8 for certain file formats.
<IfModule mod_mime.c>
    AddCharset utf-8 .atom .css .js .json .rss .vtt .webapp .xml
</IfModule>

Options +FollowSymLinks
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
    Header unset ETag
</IfModule>

FileETag None

# Persistent Connections
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
  Header set Connection Keep-Alive
</IfModule>

#RewriteEngine On
#RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.
#RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
   RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
   RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\..+$ [NC]
   RewriteRule ^ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
</IfModule>

RedirectMatch 301 /login$ http://www.website.com/wp-admin

#Begin gzip and deflate
#<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
#    AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html application/x-javascript text/plain text/xml image/x-icon
#</IfModule>
#
# GZIP Setup #2
<ifmodule mod_deflate.c>
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/text text/html text/plain text/xml text/css application/x- javascript application/javascript
</ifmodule>
#
# GZIP Setup #3
#<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
#    <IfModule mod_setenvif.c>
#        <IfModule mod_headers.c>
#            SetEnvIfNoCase ^(Accept-EncodXng|X-cept-Encoding|X{15}|~{15}|-{15})$ ^((gzip|deflate)\s*,?\s*)+|[X~-]{4,13}$ HAVE_Accept-Encoding
#            RequestHeader append Accept-Encoding "gzip,deflate" env=HAVE_Accept-Encoding
#        </IfModule>
#    </IfModule>
#    <IfModule mod_filter.c>
#        AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/atom+xml \
#                                      application/javascript \
#                                      application/json \
#                                      application/rss+xml \
#                                      application/vnd.ms-fontobject \
#                                      application/x-font-ttf \
#                                      application/x-web-app-manifest+json \
#                                      application/xhtml+xml \
#                                      application/xml \
#                                      font/opentype \
#                                      image/svg+xml \
#                                      image/x-icon \
#                                      text/css \
#                                      text/html \
#                                      text/plain \
#                                      text/x-component \
#                                      text/xml
#    </IfModule>
#</IfModule>

#SetEnv TZ America/Denver  # Sets Timezone to Mountain

ExpiresActive On  # Turn on Expires and set default to 0
ExpiresDefault A0

<IfModule mod_headers.c>
    <FilesMatch "\.(eot|font.css|otf|ttc|ttf|woff)$">
        Header set Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*"
    </FilesMatch>
</IfModule>

# Proper MIME Types
<IfModule mod_mime.c>
  # Audio
    AddType audio/mp4                                   m4a f4a f4b
    AddType audio/ogg                                   oga ogg
  # JavaScript
    AddType application/javascript                      js jsonp
    AddType application/json                            json
  # Video
    AddType video/mp4                                   mp4 m4v f4v f4p
    AddType video/ogg                                   ogv
    AddType video/webm                                  webm
    AddType video/x-flv                                 flv
  # Web fonts
    AddType application/font-woff                       woff
    AddType application/vnd.ms-fontobject               eot
    AddType application/x-font-ttf                      ttc ttf
    AddType font/opentype                               otf
    AddType     image/svg+xml                           svg svgz
    AddEncoding gzip                                    svgz
  # Other
    AddType application/octet-stream                    safariextz
    AddType application/x-chrome-extension              crx
    AddType application/x-opera-extension               oex
    AddType application/x-shockwave-flash               swf
    AddType application/x-web-app-manifest+json         webapp
    AddType application/x-xpinstall                     xpi
    AddType application/xml                             atom rdf rss xml
    AddType image/webp                                  webp
    AddType image/x-icon                                ico
    AddType text/cache-manifest                         appcache manifest
    AddType text/vtt                                    vtt
    AddType text/x-component                            htc
    AddType text/x-vcard                                vcf
</IfModule>

# Proper Expires
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
    ExpiresActive on
    ExpiresDefault                                      "access plus 1 month"
  # CSS
    ExpiresByType text/css                              "access plus 1 year"
  # Data interchange
    ExpiresByType application/json                      "access plus 0 seconds"
    ExpiresByType application/xml                       "access plus 0 seconds"
    ExpiresByType text/xml                              "access plus 0 seconds"
  # Favicon (cannot be renamed!)
    ExpiresByType image/x-icon                          "access plus 1 week"
  # HTML components (HTCs)
    ExpiresByType text/x-component                      "access plus 1 month"
  # HTML
    ExpiresByType text/html                             "access plus 0 seconds"
  # JavaScript
    ExpiresByType application/javascript                "access plus 1 year"
  # Manifest files
    ExpiresByType application/x-web-app-manifest+json   "access plus 0 seconds"
    ExpiresByType text/cache-manifest                   "access plus 0 seconds"
  # Media
    ExpiresByType audio/ogg                             "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType image/gif                             "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType image/jpeg                            "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType image/png                             "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType video/mp4                             "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType video/ogg                             "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType video/webm                            "access plus 1 month"
  # Web feeds
    ExpiresByType application/atom+xml                  "access plus 1 hour"
    ExpiresByType application/rss+xml                   "access plus 1 hour"
  # Web fonts
    ExpiresByType application/font-woff                 "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-fontobject         "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType application/x-font-ttf                "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType font/opentype                         "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType image/svg+xml                         "access plus 1 month"
</IfModule>

# BEGIN WPSuperCache
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
#If you serve pages from behind a proxy you may want to change 'RewriteCond %{HTTPS} on' to something more sensible
AddDefaultCharset UTF-8 
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^.*[^/]$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^.*//.*$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !POST
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !.*=.*
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Cookie} !^.*(comment_author_|wordpress_logged_in|wp-postpass_).*$
RewriteCond %{HTTP:X-Wap-Profile} !^[a-z0-9\"]+ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Profile} !^[a-z0-9\"]+ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-Encoding} gzip
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} on
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/wp-content/cache/supercache/%{SERVER_NAME}/$1/index-https.html.gz -f
RewriteRule ^(.*) "/wp-content/cache/supercache/%{SERVER_NAME}/$1/index-https.html.gz" [L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^.*[^/]$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^.*//.*$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !POST
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !.*=.*
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Cookie} !^.*(comment_author_|wordpress_logged_in|wp-postpass_).*$
RewriteCond %{HTTP:X-Wap-Profile} !^[a-z0-9\"]+ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Profile} !^[a-z0-9\"]+ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-Encoding} gzip
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !on
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/wp-content/cache/supercache/%{SERVER_NAME}/$1/index.html.gz -f
RewriteRule ^(.*) "/wp-content/cache/supercache/%{SERVER_NAME}/$1/index.html.gz" [L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^.*[^/]$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^.*//.*$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !POST
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !.*=.*
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Cookie} !^.*(comment_author_|wordpress_logged_in|wp-postpass_).*$
RewriteCond %{HTTP:X-Wap-Profile} !^[a-z0-9\"]+ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Profile} !^[a-z0-9\"]+ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} on
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/wp-content/cache/supercache/%{SERVER_NAME}/$1/index-https.html -f
RewriteRule ^(.*) "/wp-content/cache/supercache/%{SERVER_NAME}/$1/index-https.html" [L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^.*[^/]$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^.*//.*$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !POST
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !.*=.*
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Cookie} !^.*(comment_author_|wordpress_logged_in|wp-postpass_).*$
RewriteCond %{HTTP:X-Wap-Profile} !^[a-z0-9\"]+ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Profile} !^[a-z0-9\"]+ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !on
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/wp-content/cache/supercache/%{SERVER_NAME}/$1/index.html -f
RewriteRule ^(.*) "/wp-content/cache/supercache/%{SERVER_NAME}/$1/index.html" [L]
</IfModule>

# END WPSuperCache

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress