Localhost shortcuts

You need to update you httpd-vhosts.conf to something like this:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "/Users/me/Sites/www.site1.dev"
    ServerName www.site1.dev
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "/Users/me/Sites/www.site2.dev"
    ServerName www.site2.dev
</VirtualHost>

Having each domain separately in your config allows you to have separate server options for each, e.g. Rewrite config, separate log files, etc.

Then, update your /etc/hosts and add this at the end:

127.0.0.1   www.site1.dev
127.0.0.1   www.site2.dev

This step is particurarily important as this is where your OS looks first when resolving domain names. Otherwise it will not know what www.site1.dev is.

Then simply restart the server by disabling Web Sharing and enabling it again.

To make sure your config works you can check apache logs (access_log and error_log) via Console.app (Files > /private/var/log > apache2).

When accessing websites on your "localhost", there are several permissions which are required. The localhost content may be in your Sites directory, in which case, these commands may help prevent any "Forbidden" messages.

Ensure the Users directory allows read directory access:

cd /
sudo chmod -v 755 Users

Ensure the username directory allows read directory access:

cd Users
sudo chmod -v 755 username

Ensure your Sites directory allows read directory access:

cd ~
chmod -v 755 Sites

Every subdirectory of Sites needs read access:

cd ~/Sites
find ~/Sites -type d -print -exec chmod 755 {} \;

Every file in Sites and subdirectories needs read access:

cd ~/Sites
fing ~/Sites -type f -print -exec chmod 644 {} \;

Apache uses the _www group so, to give Apache full access to everything in the Sites directory, set the extended attributes with this:

chmod -R +a "group:_www allow list,add_file,search,add_subdirectory,delete_child,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity,file_inherit,directory_inherit" ~/Sites