I have followed this tutorial to set up Apache, MySql and PHP on Mac OS X 10.8 (http://coolestguyplanettech.com/downtown/install-and-configure-apache-mysql-php-and-phpmyadmin-osx-108-mountain-lion)
When I go to 'Localhost' I get the following error:
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server.
When I go to 'Localhost/~benthompson' it works fine.
When I was halfway through the tutorial, 'Localhost' did work, its something later on that stopped it working.
Presumably its a permissions issue, but where?
To fix that issue check this link http://www.coolestguidesontheplanet.com/downtown/how-set-virtual-hosts-apache-mac-osx-109-mavericks-and-osx-108-mountain-lion read the "Losing Localhost" part.
The error occurs just after you enable vhosts in the httpd.conf file. By uncommenting this line:
Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
Adding this in the httpd-vhosts.conf will fix your issue. Just remember to add new vhosts before this one :D
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName localhost
DocumentRoot /Library/WebServer/Documents/
</VirtualHost>
I hope this solves your problem!