80 and 443 SSL

what should I use and why both

[thefiz]

Im a pretty new webmaster. I am running XAMPP on linux. After setting up my webserver I did a lcoal scan and saw that I was now running port 80 and 443. 80 being the regular site and port 443 being https (ssl supported). Couple of questions:
-Do I have to run both of these?
-If not how can I make it just run 443?
^Also if not, are there any real cons to only running https?

[jonrichd]

thefiz: Welcome to WebmasterWorld. I hope you learn a lot here.

Port 80 is the standard port for HTTP, and 443 is the standard for https. When someone running a browser types in www.example.com, the browser looks for content on port 80. If there that port is shut off, then your user won't get any content. If you really want to deliver all your content over SSL, then you should set up a redirect so that http: redirects to https:. Otherwise, users who don't think to add the s to the http won't be able to get to your site.

My question is why you would want to run your entire site under https? This uses extra bandwidth, and generally slows down the page display. The only case where you SHOULD use it is when sensitive content is being sent/received (say credit card account info, etc). In most online stores, etc, this only occurs during the actual sending of the transaction; there is no reason to make catalog pages, etc display over https.

[thefiz]

Yeah I suppose I dont have any real need to atm. I think I need a better grasp of SSL. I will do like you said and redirect them when it is needed. If you have any good links or comments about SSL that would be great. I was thinking of using it when I make my webmail.blah.org.