HTML5 Boilerplate .htaccess vs httpd.conf

I'd like to start off by saying I am really new to working with apache, so please don't hold it against me.

The HTML5 Boilerplate comes with a .htaccess file, but I'm using django (on webfaction) and so I have a httpd.conf file for apache. Can I put the code that's in the Boilerplates .htaccess file into my httpd.conf? I'm confused at the difference between the two and would appreciate any help / insight you can give?