By default, WordPress redirects index.php requests to URLs configured in the .htaccess file. Sometimes, we would like to have an “Under Construction” static page in an index.html within the root of the WordPress installation, and also a WordPress deployment accessible through the index.php link, for clients to review.
In order to manage what is termed as “canonical redirects” in WordPress, upload the Disable Redirection WordPress plugin (click to download) and activate it.
Next, in your WordPress deployment .htaccess file, add the following line, at the end of the file:
DirectoryIndex index.html
Now, the “Under Construction” static index.html file is the default file that gets rendered on the domain name. To access the WordPress deployment, explicitly name the index.php in the URL, as below:
http://www.website.com/index.php
