Viewing Hidden Files

I Figured out how to view hidden files, but it wasn't easy and I am still not 100% comfortable with it. I followed the instructions here: http://guides.macrumors.com/Viewing_hidden_files_on_a_Mac but that did not seem to work. I wanted to just use finder to see the hidden files. When I typed in the suggested commands, I didn't get an error but it is definitely not working. So I resorted to downloading a couple of additional programs. Textwrangler and Coda.

I actually downloaded Textwrangler first and struggled a little so I began to download coda. Before it finished I had figured out Textwrangler so that is what I ended up using. From the textwrangler menu you choose "File/Open Hidden". After that it still isn't easy as I still am learning to understand directory navigation on the mac. I was able to find the private directory by clicking on the "Macintosh HD" in finder. It would be more intuitive at this point if it would have been under Desktop, Home, Applications or Documents which is where most stuff seems to be.

I haven't got back to using this (modifying hidden files) yet, but I will and I think I will be alright now. I still need to install mysql and coldfusion.

I did get php working by just modifying one line as instructed here: http://reverbisnotalie.com/code/php-mysql-apache-mac-osx-leopard