I am just getting started with Zend. From reading the introduction to Zend_Controller, it seems like a .htaccess file is required, but my web host does not allow them. I know that .htaccess files are optional with some other MVC frameworks, if you don't mind a URL like http://www.mysite.com/index.php/modu...troller/action. Will that also work with Zend?

To my knowledge, no. However, I wouldn't use it without pretty URLs, but that's just me.

Do you have any way to modify the apache config? Maybe there is another conf file they do let you edit. The rules in .htaccess can be run anywhere in the site's config, including the <VirtualHost> block

It sounds like you have a cheaper hosting package that isn't really catered to developers. I would recommend upgrading your account.

Also, it is possible to use certain components without bootstrapping/MVC set up on your web site, but what fun is that?

Any ideas if you're running IIS or Apache?

You can run ZF correctly using the URL scheme that you mention above on both if they're configured correctly.

If you can't use .htaccess files then I guess you can't edit a copy of http.conf/vhost.conf local to your user account either? (as you can setup the Rewrite rule in there)