10.5.43.  IndexOptions

IndexOptions controls the appearance of server generated directing listings, by adding icons, file descriptions, and so on. If Options Indexes is set (refer to Section 10.5.23, “ Options ”), the Web server generates a directory listing when the Web server receives an HTTP request for a directory without an index.

First, the Web server looks in the requested directory for a file matching the names listed in the DirectoryIndex directive (usually, index.html). If an index.html file is not found, Apache HTTP Server creates an HTML directory listing of the requested directory. The appearance of this directory listing is controlled, in part, by the IndexOptions directive.

The default configuration turns on FancyIndexing. This means that a user can re-sort a directory listing by clicking on column headers. Another click on the same header switches from ascending to descending order. FancyIndexing also shows different icons for different files, based upon file extensions.

The AddDescription option, when used in conjunction with FancyIndexing, presents a short description for the file in server generated directory listings.

IndexOptions has a number of other parameters which can be set to control the appearance of server generated directories. The IconHeight and IconWidth parameters require the server to include HTML HEIGHT and WIDTH tags for the icons in server generated webpages. The IconsAreLinks parameter combines the graphical icon with the HTML link anchor, which contains the URL link target.