Problem
Assuming there is a change in structure/page names etc, an often overlooked aspect of re-developing an existing website is to add proper redirects to let users and search engines know where to find the new versions of already bookmarked/indexed pages. The chances are that when the old site has been upgraded, the content on those pages becomes out of date and incorrect fairly quickly, the old pages may also have been completely deleted or in the case of switching to a new hosting setup, have never existed. This means that the next time your users click on that bookmarked link, or when the search engines return to crawl your site again, the pages either return out of date information or even worse, inform both your users and the search engines that they don’t exist. Needless to say, this is not the result you are looking for from your new and lovingly crafted website.
Solution
Making sure your users and the search engines remain happy when they request one of your pages is actually very simple, all you need is a list of your old pages, a list of your new locations, a text editor and FTP access to your hosting. The solution is to use a “301 redirect”, this is an Apache specific method and wont work under IIS. (If you are running an IIS server, see the link at the bottom of this post for further details)
Examples
Here are the steps to take at the most basic level:
Create a new text (.txt) document and save it as .htaccess
To redirect a single file (or list of single files):
Redirect 301 /old-file.html http://www.shiny-new-website.com/new-file.html
To redirect all of the old pages to your new website:
RedirectMatch 301 (.*) http://www.shiny-new-website.com/
Upload the .htaccess to your website’s root folder (where you’re index page is) and check that when requesting the old URL’s, you are redirected to the new URL’s
Links
Apache - Apache mod_alias documentation
Using IIS? - IIS 6.0 Server Administration Guide
January 20th, 2009
www.geoffruncie.com has just been launched by East Coast Interactive.
Constructed with XHTML/CSS on the front end, this new website for successful businessman Geoff Runcie also enjoys a robust content management system allowing Geoff to keep all data relating to his career and achievements up to date with minimal fuss. An online email, calendar and document management solution was implemented meaning that Geoff now has his full portfolio of data and document assets with him wherever an internet connection is available.
This website serves as an online Curriculum Vitae and was complimented with a 4 page printed prospectus and matching business cards.
http://www.geoffruncie.com
January 19th, 2009
With visitors from more than 30 countries, over 70,000 plays to date, and front page “feature” exposure on some of the biggest online Flash game websites around, the East Coast Interactive sledging game has proven to be a bit of a hit over the 2008 festive period.
Overview
Super Sledge Challenge started life as an idea near the end of November 2008 as a virtual Christmas card for East Coast Interactive to send to their clients. The idea was both simple and seasonal – To sledge down a hill as quickly as possible while dodging trees and the edges of the course while picking up presents for time bonuses. Like a lot of ideas ECI have, it quickly grew wings. While the primary function of being an interactive e-card remained very much intact, it also developed into a fully fledged online flash game with a high score table. To “go that extra mile” the ability to customize the game to add a personalised festive message was added along with a “send to a friend” feature.
Created to run on the Flash platform, the online game development technology of choice at East Coast Interactive, a number of technical options were investigated and implemented to add that extra level of playability, with a 3D library being used to give a more realistic feeling of space and motion and custom sound effects recorded to add to the atmosphere.
Exposure
After wishing our clients a Merry Christmas, we released Super Sledge Challenge as a publically available Flash online game. The Community Manager for 4mations (Channel 4, Aardman Animations and Lupus Films) was seeking out festive themed games for the 4mations website and featured it on their front page. The next port of call was newgrounds (”the original – and still the largest – Flash portal on the web”) who accepted Super Sledge Challenge to run on their site and finally the game was submitted to Kongregate. From here the game went viral, being picked up by other gaming websites and being mentioned on the pages of Digg, the feed of Twitter and even from word of mouth, the play count has continued to rise hourly.
Building an interactive online christmas card is pretty much a given for any digital media agency these days, what East Coast Interactive set out to achieve initially was no different from any other company at that particular time of year. What ECI have shown is that with a bit of extra drive, innovation and effort, it is not only achievable to get your work in front of some of the biggest names in the industry but also to get it out to a large and varied audience globally.
Super Sledge Challenge was launched mid December 2008 and (at the time of writing) continues to be very well played.
http://www.supersledgechallenge.com
January 6th, 2009