Well, Jon, thanks for the suggestion but, unfortunately, we do not run Apache here. This is a Windows shop. Also, not only am I renaming most files, but since I completely reorganized the whole website, the directories are different (example of an old page's name: qualified_eductaional_expenses.htm).
As for the individual pages, I will realistically only have a couple that will need the meta refresh. I figure if I customize the 404 page with some of the most popular links, people will eventually re-bookmark the new page. Thanks all for the feedback. Dominique -----Original Message----- From: Jon Haworth [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, May 27, 2005 2:40 AM To: [email protected] 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 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Swift Internet, and is believed to be clean. ____ * 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. ____ � 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: unknown lmsubst tag argument: '' 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.
