Here is another possible solution for "hiding" your site during those private, site-under-construction moments. Here we are instructing Apache to provide visitors with a password prompt while providing open access to any specifically indicated IP addresses or URLs. Edit the following code according to your IP address and other development requirements (thanks to Caleb at askapache.com for sharing this trick):
# password prompt for visitors
AuthType basic
AuthName "This site is currently under construction"
AuthUserFile /home/path/.htpasswd
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
Require valid-user
# allow webmaster and any others open access
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
Allow from 111.222.33.4
Allow from favorite.validation/services/
Allow from googlebot.com
Satisfy Any
