basic htaccess for perf

.htaccess

DirectoryIndex index.html index.htm index.php
ErrorDocument 404 /404

# Block directory listing
Options -Indexes

# === URL Rewrite === #

# Map all URIs except those corresponding to existing files/folders to the handler
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_URI} !-d
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_URI} !-f
RewriteRule ^([\w-_\/]+)?$ ./index.php?p=$1


# === Performance === #

# Turn on expires
ExpiresActive On

# Set up gzip and strong caching and remove eTags
<Files ~ "\.(js|css)$">
    SetOutputFilter DEFLATE
    FileETag None
    ExpiresDefault "access plus 1 year"
    Header append Cache-Control "private, must-revalidate"
</Files>

# Set up strong caching and configure eTags
<Files ~ "\.(ico|gif|jpe?g|png)$">
    FileETag MTime Size
    ExpiresDefault "access plus 1 year"
    Header append Cache-Control "public"
</Files>

# Force gzip and no-caching for dynamic files
<FilesMatch "\.(php|cgi|pl|htm?l|xml|rss|json)$">
    SetOutputFilter DEFLATE
    ExpiresDefault A0
    Header set Cache-Control "no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, max-age=0"
    Header set Pragma "no-cache"
</FilesMatch>

very basic apache config file that enables some perf optimizations based on the Yahoo Performance Rules.

for more complete server settings check HTML5 boilerplate server configs

I really don't like to explicitly set "no-caching" for dynamic files. In fact, dynamic doesn't necessarily means "no-cacheable". So, in this case, the caching decision should be done by the application, and not in the .htaccess file.

@netojoaobatista Yes, it all depends on the kind of application you are building. For most of my projects the settings above are the expected output but sometimes JSON/XML files should also be cached forever. It is not a one size fits all solution, it should be adapted based on the needs of the project.