To use XAMPP for developing multiple web sites, specify a ‘host name’ for each web site to use. Each web site will have its own folder on your computer. Link a host name, to a folder with your web site files. Edit the web site files, view them on your web browser (skipping the normal FTP step for each change); when the page is working, publish it to the Internet.
You can define your own host names. Some people use .local for their naming convention (http://www.yourdomain.com on the Internet, http://www.yourdomain.local on your development computer). Or use local.yourdomain.com, which should be looked for on your computer before on the Internet. I like a simpler one, since I’m doing it only for me: yd.c (Yes, you can name it anything you want, on your own computer only). Two or three letter abbreviation, and .c, you’d be amazed how typing 4 characters instead of a long domain name, again and again, matters in developing and testing a web site.
You define “your own host name” in two places, one for XAMPP, one for Windows. (more…)