hmm. good stuff Jon, I must spend some time getting to grips with all that............ I must confess that when I have 'moved' a subsidiary page that may have been bookmarked all I have done is to do a:
<META HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" CONTENT="18; URL=(new page reference)"> with a request to bookmark the new page, which is less than desirable.... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Haworth" Sent: Friday, May 27, 2005 8:40 PM Subject: RE: [wdvltalk] pros and cons of redirecting the index page? : Dominique, : : > I am redoing a website whose files are all htm. I like to : > use the html extension. I was thinking of renaming : > default.htm to default.html. I read somewhere that : > search engines balk at following a redirect page, which : > would be problem on the index page. : : As has been suggested, you can use a 301 header to show that a page has been : permanently moved elsewhere. : : If your server runs Apache a slightly more elegant solution is to use a : DirectoryIndex directive in either httpd.conf or an .htaccess (depending on : how much control you have over the server). The specific line you're looking : for is probably: : : DirectoryIndex default.html : : Read all about it: : http://httpd.apache.org/docs/mod/mod_dir.html#directoryindex : : I do have a rant about this, though, so FWIW here it is. : : People may have bookmarked pages from the old site. From the sounds of it, : you're going to be changing every page from .htm to .html, which will break : all of these unless you're willing to set up 301s for everything. : : If you're going to do this to your visitors, at least make it so that you'll : never have to do it again (imagine if, in six months time, you need to : switch to a PHP site and have change all the extensions for a third time). : : Can I beg you to consider setting up some sort of URL rewriting system, so : that you can have links like : : /headlines/2005/05/27 : : Rather than : : /headline.asp?year=2005&month=05&day=27 : : Even if your site isn't that complex, you can still take advantage of this : technique and use : : /products/widgets/red : : Rather than : : /products/widgets/red.html : : This can be done with Apache's mod_rewrite or a plugin for IIS, and it's a : doddle to set up a script for this in PHP if you'd rather roll your own: : http://www.alistapart.com/articles/succeed/ : : Here's a great article, written by Tim Berners-Lee in 1998: : http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI.html : : <quote> : http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/pubsys/browser/odbrowse.pl [is] the main page for : starting to look for documents, [and] is clearly not going to be something : to trust to being there in a few years. "cgi-bin" and "odbrowse" and ".pl" : all point to bits of how-we-do-it-now. : </quote> : : Seven years later, what do you see when you click on that nsf.gov link? : : Cheers : Jon -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.322 / Virus Database: 266.11.17 - Release Date: 25/05/05 ____ � The WDVL Discussion List from WDVL.COM � ____ To Join wdvltalk, Send An Email To: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] or use the web interface http://e-newsletters.internet.com/discussionlists.html/ Send Your Posts To: [email protected] To change subscription settings, add a password or view the web interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/read/?forum=wdvltalk ________________ http://www.wdvl.com _______________________ You are currently subscribed to wdvltalk as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe via postal mail, please contact us at: Jupitermedia Corp. Attn: Discussion List Management 475 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 Please include the email address which you have been contacted with.
