Hello Jennifer,

There are several solutions to your problem:

[Solution #1] (the same as Deb's (<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>))
The easiest way will be to register new domain name at the same
hosting provider, and ask them to add ServerAlias to their VirtualHost
definition. That way old bookmarks will work as they should, even if
the bookmark point to some "inner page", like
www.servername.com/category/subcategory/file.htm

[Solution #2]
If your new domain name will be at different hosting provider, you can
use mod_rewrite on old host, so all requests will be redirected to a
new location
RewriteRule ^/(.+) http://newserver/$1 [R, L]
(this assumes that directory structure remains the same)

[Solution #3]
You can also define custom ErrorDocument handler
ErrorDocument 404 /redirect.php
redirect.php:
<?php
$new_url = 'http://newserver'.$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
$seconds = 3;
header("Refresh: $seconds;url=$new_url");
// Here goes "We moved, you will be redirected in $seconds seconds
// if not click on a link ($new_url)
?>

Solution 1 is an easiest solution.

Both solutions 1 and 2 are "transparent" to user, meaning that the user
will not even notice the domain name change.

Solution 3 is probably the best one if you want to inform user of a
domain name change, because then user will be
informed AND still will get the requested content.

HTH :-)

Thursday, January 16, 2003, 5:45:02 AM, you wrote:

jica> Hi all,

jica> A client of mine chose a particularly long and unwieldy domain name a
jica> couple of years ago, and is now asking about the feasibility of changing
jica> to something easier/faster to type. I can see the advantages: fewer
jica> spelling errors/typos so fewer 404s, easier to remember and better impact
jica> on promotional material. BUT they'll temporarily lose all those users
jica> who've bookmarked the site, and those who are referring to old brochures
jica> etc, and I'll also have to contact all the sites that link to them at
jica> present and ask them to change the link.

jica> So, I was wondering, has anyone seen any research on how people generally
jica> arrive at sites these days, ie is it mostly via links, via search engines,
jica> or by typing the URL into their browser?

jica> TIA, Jen

-- 
Best regards,
 German                            mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 ICQ:48533867



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