How to Set Up Shared SSL at Bluehost

Here's an interesting post about setting up
shared SSL at Bluehost:

How to set up shared SSL at BlueHost

This is something I've never done before. I've
always used Paypal for my shopping cart so I've
never needed to worry about security certificates.

The post seems to make a few interesting
points:

1. Bluehost provides you a place where you
   can place your SSL pages if you do not have
   a security certificate
2. Since you are sharing Bluehosts security
   certificate and not using your own, these
   pages will have Bluehost's domain (bluehost.com)
   in the URL and not your URL (myname.com)
3. If you want to use your own domain name,
   you have to invest in your own security certificate
4. Mixing pages that are secure and unsecure
   can give you some problems

The last point is an interesting one. I have
no experience with any of this, but I understand
that references to an insecure page inside of a
secure one causes browser security warnings.
This is especially true of Internet Explorer.

I've seen this happen and I understand that
it can happen. I wonder. Does this mean
once your pages say HTTPS in the URL,
you have to go with HTTPS all the
way?

This would seem to be the case. I don't say
this authoritatively because I lack experience
in this area. However, this makes sense to
me.

Ed Abbott

How to Setup an FTP Account at Bluehost

Setting up an FTP account
at Bluehost is quite easy.
Here are the steps:

1. Go to the Bluehost home
   page
2. Look for Control Panel
   Login in the upper righthand
   corner of the home page
3. Click on Control Panel
4. Scroll down to Files
5. Find FTP Accounts under
   Files
6. Click on FTP Accounts under
   Files
7. Find Add User Account
8. Fill out the form under Add
   User Account
9. Click on Create FTP Account
10. After creating the account you
    will land on a page. Click Go Back
    on the landing page
11. You should now be back at the page
    where you created the FTP account. Scroll
    down to see if your account has been created.
    If not, perhaps it will take a few moments to
    create it.
12. Periodically refresh the page to see if
    the account has been created yet.

The obvious last step, after all the other
steps have been completed, is to try to FTP
to your bluehost account. I find the following
command-line command sufficient to get me started:

> ftp yourdomain.com

Update: Bluehost now has something called
Frequently Accessed Areas on the upper
left side of the control panel page. Under this
heading is FTP Accounts. It's in small
print but it is a shortcut if you can find it.

Ed Abbott