In This Issue...
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Editor's ViewPoint:
Community Spirit
![Saz249]()
The voting is over! We now have our 2004 Community
Award winners, one of which gets to wear the badge I've so proudly sported for
the past 12 months. As much as I really hate to hand this badge over (winning
it meant so much to me), the guy who gets it next really does deserve it --
Community Team Mentor FrozenToast. Many congratulations Andy.
You can see a full list of award winners in What's New.
Didn't win this year? Never mind -- there's always 2005. :o)
Also in this issue, Ingo's back to discuss MSN Search in the Computer Corner.
Hosting Team Advisor Pippo points out some handy Dos and Don'ts for mod_rewrite
in our Team Tip, and member 'archigamer' is in the hot-seat for this weeks'
interview.
Enjoy...
Saara Ord (Saz249)
SitePoint Community Crier Editor
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What's New?
Community Awards 2004 - The Winners
The 2004 Community Awards have come to an end, and it's time to announce
the winners. The awards started on October 1 with a nomination process that lasted thirteen days. Voting started on October 18 and finished on November 10,
giving members twenty-four days to submit their votes. The prize for the
winners? Much-deserved recognition throughout the SitePoint Community and an
award badge placed under each winner's username.
Here's the list of
winners for the 2004 Community Awards:
Advisor of the Year: vgarcia
Mentor of the Year: Paul O'B
Member of the Year: Dan
Grossman
_javascript_ Guru of the Year: adios
PHP Guru of the Year: someonewhois
ASP Guru of the Year: asp_funda
.NET Guru of the Year: zakruvalcaba
Programmer of the Year: seanf and redemption
Database Guru of the Year: r937
Graphic Designer of the Year: FrozenToast
Web Designer of the Year: Paul O'B
Funniest Member of the Year: M.
Johansson
Funniest Thread of the Year: M.Zeb Khan with
Best Thread of the Year: M. Johansson with
Most Improved Award: mstwntd
Community Spirit Award: FrozenToast
Sitepoint King: aspen
Sitepoint Queen: FrozenToast
Personality of the year: vgarcia
Congratulations to all the winners!
Marketplace Restrictions
As reported in the
forums and the last edition of the Crier, the SitePoint Marketplace has had
a revamp. Certain new restrictions have caused head-scratching for those who
have not fully digested the new guidelines.
In short, you are
unable either to post a new thread, or reply to an existing thread, in the
Marketplace unless you have posted a minimum of 25 times before. If you're
short of this figure, please be patient and work to reach the magic number in a
proper manner. Any 'spammy' posts showing up purely to facilitate an increased
count will be removed -- be warned! Also, once you hit the 25-post mark, be
patient. It takes a while for the forum software to update your posting
privileges...
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Team Tips
Mod_Rewrite - Dos and Don'ts
Use these tips to improve your Mod_Rewrites...
Don'ts
1) Do not start a RewriteRule with
a slash from a per-directory context (A per-directory context is
.htaccess and a Directory block into httpd.conf.):
RewriteRule ^/path/to$ /another/path/to
Within
a per-directory context, the URI is always stripped. In fact, if you try to
browse example.com/path/to, RewriteRule will try to match path/to and not
/path/to.
A nice trick to make the same rule cross-context is:
RewriteRule ^/?path/to$ /another/path/to
Some
examples to understand:
RewriteRule %{REQUEST_URI} !^/index\.php$
[NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?id=$1 [L]
Trying to
browse example.com/path/to.php
if that rule is placed into
/.htaccess, $1 will be path/to.php
if that rule is placed into /path/.htaccess, $1 will be to.php
if that rule is placed into the Directory block of your DocumentRoot, $1 will
be path/to.php
if that rule is placed into a VirtualHost block or the main body of
httpd.conf, $1 will be /path/to.php
2) Do not use RewriteMap
under .htaccess.
The context of that directive is very clear: server config, virtual host. No
.htaccess, I'm sorry.
3) Do not make endless loops within
your .htaccess.
When you write a rule and make an internal redirection, that internal
redirection will be passed to your .htaccess again.
Thus:
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php [L]
will create endless
loops.
Some tricks to avoid this include:
RewriteCond
%{REQUEST_URI} !^/index\.php$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php
[L]
or
RewriteRule !^/?index\.php$ /index.php [L]
For more information, visit:
http://www.sitepoint.com/print/mod_rewrite-no-endless-loops
4) Don't parse the query string using RewriteRule.
Suppose you have to redirect a URI that looks like:
/index.php?id=something
You don't have to write:
RewriteRule ^index\.php\?id=something$ /something
but you do have to check the content of the environment variable QUERY_STRING
using the RewriteCond directive.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^id=something$ [NC]
RewriteRule
^/?index\.php$ /something [L]
Dos
1) Add this to the top of your .htaccess:
Options +FollowSymLinks
This will prevent 403 Forbidden errors.
2) Escape the dots
from your rules when you want to match a dot in your regular expressions.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^escape\.the\.dots\.here$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^escape\.here\.too$ /do.not.escape.here [L]
RewriteRule ^no_needed_here([^.]+)$ /do.not.escape.here [L]
3) Add the L flag to stop parsing subsequent rules. Your URI is
example.com/pippo.gif:
RewriteRule ^pippo\.gif$ /pluto\.gif
RewriteRule ^etc1$ /etc2
RewriteRule ^etc3$ /etc4
mod_rewrite will parse all 3 rules, even if the first one matched.
RewriteRule ^pippo\.gif$ /pluto\.gif [L]
RewriteRule ^etc1$ /etc2
RewriteRule ^etc3$ /etc4
In this case, mod_rewrite will only
parse the first rule because it matched, and because it found the L flag.
4) Be sure that your .htaccess is parsed before you spend hours
trying to work out why your rules didn't work. A handy trick is to add this
line at the top of your .htaccess into a test directory:
foo_directive
If you browse example.com/test/ and you have
a 500 error, it will mean that your .htaccess is parsed. Otherwise, be
sure to check the AllowOverride of your httpd.conf.
5)
Use RewriteLog and RewriteLogLevel to debug your rules in your
local development PC. I'm used to adding the following to my
httpd.conf:
RewriteLogLevel 9
RewriteLog /path/to/rewrite.txt
Pippo - Hosting Team Advisor
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Member Spotlight
Member: archigamer
Alternative Universe Name: Brett
Knapik
~ How did you get started on the Internet?
When I was in 7th grade, I made video game sites for fun with a friend of
mine and it just took off from there.
~ Would you explain your
username and how you decided on that one?
When my family used AOL back in the old days, a friend of mine thought it up
as my screen name. Since I had a passion for videogames, my friend came up with
archgamer, however that was already taken. So I stuck an 'i' in the middle and
that's the way it has been ever since.
~ What are your favorite
topics/hobbies with Web design?
I have always enjoyed programming. I am always interested in debates about
.NET vs Java, PHP, CF, etc. I'm not much of a graphics guy -- I can do basic
artwork, but do not expect anything great.
~ How did you come
across SitePoint?
I was looking to learn PHP at the time, and I came across the books
advertisement on some site. I bought the book the same night I found the site,
and haven't left SitePoint since.
~ What made you stay at
SitePoint Forums?
The community. After I bought the book, I hopped over to the forum. I was in
awe. I was suprised by how effective and friendly the community is. If it were
not for this community, I would have left SitePoint long ago.
~
What do you do in real life?
Quite a lot. Currently, I am a student at a local community college. I am
hoping to transfer to Rochester Institute of Technology and major in Software
Engineering.
I also play a role in my family's business. I am
responsible for maintaining 3 OSCommerce Websites, including custom coding,
debugging and user troubleshooting. This also includes a custom customer
database application written in .NET. When the opportunity comes I do take work
for custom coding on the side for extra cash.
When I'm not doing
this, I'm usually packing boxes to ship or putting closeout items on eBay. I
think that about covers the major roles.
URL: None at this time
(soon at http://www.webfinessestudios.com)
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Computer Corner
MSN Search
Welcome to this Issue's Computer Corner.
Microsoft might be losing some ground in the online world these days, thanks
to the likes of Firefox and Thunderbird, but it's trying to expand into new
areas of the Web or, at least, to catch up in the areas in which they aren't on
top.
It was really just a matter of time until Microsoft came up with some
"new" stuff, namely the MSN Search (beta):
english version
german version
spanish
version
So what's really new about this search engine?
At first glance, I'd say: nothing (we're talking frontend here; currently,
little information about the backend is available). It's really a refurbished
interface that, strangely, reminds me of Google (see the images below). This is
intentional, in my opinion.
![Google]()
![Google]()
Another similarity exists between the advanced search function of Google and
the "search builder" of MSN search (beta):
![Google]()
This is especially helpful for users who aren't familiar with the normal
syntax of current search engines (e.g. "sitepoint css" will search
exactly for those terms. Using --flash will exclude that term, etc).
Overall, it seems that Microsoft/MSN is on a good path,
although current results seem a little spammy (depending on what you're looking
for), and it has an estimated index of "only" 1 billion pages. Google
still reigns supreme -- especially due to the engine's currently doubled index
of more than 8 billion pages.
Ingo
Ingoal, SitePoint Advisor - Community Team
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Dan's "Bit-At-The-End"
What Awards?
Unfortunately, instead of reveling in the then-upcoming announcement of the
Award Winners this week, I was stuck in NY having an awesome time in a
fantastic city (masquerading under the guise of a business trip) -- a hard
life, eh? New Yorkers, despite a negative stereotype among us Brits, are
actually very friendly!
Anyhow, what this means is that I haven't had a chance to catch up on forum
activity -- let alone congratulate the award winners! -- so do excuse me, until
the next issue!
Dan Morgan
Assistant Editor
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This edition of the SitePoint Community Crier was brought to you by the SitePoint Community Team: Saz249, Sarah, Dan Morgan,
Ingoal, PalmerB, zoo, FrozenToast, Toly and Aes.
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Help Your
Friends Out
People
you care about can benefit from the wealth of information on new
and maturing technologies available on the Internet. Help them
learn
how to do it by forwarding them this issue of the SitePoint
Community Crier!
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