Question

Ive configured Apache for Name-based Virtual Hosting but I can’t seem to get a local site to show in my browser. Is my httpd.conf misconfigured? Here’s the sanitized version:

#
# Use Name-based Virual Hosting.
#
NameVirtualHost *.:80

#
#Set up permissions for VirtualHosts in ~/Sites
#
<Directory "/Users/myusername/Sites">
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    AllowOverride All
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>

# For http://localhost in the OSX default location
<VirtualHost _default_:80>
    ServerName localhost
    DocumentRoot /Library/WebServer/Documents
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName thewebsite.local
    CustomLog "/Users/myusername/Sites/logs/thewebsite.local-access_log" combined
    ErrorLog "/Users/myusername/Sites/logs/thewebsite.local-error_log"
    DocumentRoot "/Users/myusername/Sites/thewebsite.local"
</VirtualHost>

And my etc/hosts

##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting.  Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1       thewebsite.local
127.0.0.1       localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1             localhost
fe80::1%lo0     localhost

Answer 1

Try changing the first line to be NameVirtualHost *:80 instead of NameVirtualHost *.:80.
Also, add your documentRoot for _default_ in quotes DocumentRoot "/Library/WebServer/Documents" (just to be consistent across the file.)
Also try adding the Directory permissions inside the Virtual Host.

I have made the changes in the code below. Try them.

#
# Use Name-based Virual Hosting.
#
NameVirtualHost *:80


# For http://localhost in the OSX default location
<VirtualHost _default_:80>
    ServerName localhost
    DocumentRoot "/Library/WebServer/Documents"
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName thewebsite.local
    CustomLog "/Users/myusername/Sites/logs/thewebsite.local-access_log" combined
    ErrorLog "/Users/myusername/Sites/logs/thewebsite.local-error_log"
    DocumentRoot "/Users/myusername/Sites/thewebsite.local"
    <Directory "/Users/myusername/Sites">
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>