asked on Help with new site design, using htaccess to avoid 404 pages
Hopefully someone can give me a few tips and tricks. I have a large site, approx 4000 pages, which half static and half dynamic . They have names like XXX.shtml because they use server side includes for data.
My problem is, I have redesigned the site to use PHP and most of the pages are dynamic, I don't want to have people clicking on a google link and getting a 404 error because the old page won't exist anymore.
I know that eventually google with switch to the new pages but what do I do in the meantime?
Should I use a redirect or a rename? Is there some kind of global statement that I can use to avoid having to put in commands for 4000 pages?
Will a redirect work if the page being redirected from no longer exists?
I have played with .htaccess a little bit but it seems to be black magic.
Thanks for the help
Ken Graser
My problem is, I have redesigned the site to use PHP and most of the pages are dynamic, I don't want to have people clicking on a google link and getting a 404 error because the old page won't exist anymore.
I know that eventually google with switch to the new pages but what do I do in the meantime?
Should I use a redirect or a rename? Is there some kind of global statement that I can use to avoid having to put in commands for 4000 pages?
Will a redirect work if the page being redirected from no longer exists?
I have played with .htaccess a little bit but it seems to be black magic.
Thanks for the help
Ken Graser
Apache Web ServerWeb Servers
Last Comment
Ken Graser
Addition: mod_rewrite is your *best* friend.
A simple rule for redirecting all potential 404's to a handling page:
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule (.+) /My_Hander_Page?original=$
From the handler page, you can either return the content you want to show, redirect them to the page you think they wanted, or send a custom 404 page.
A simple rule for redirecting all potential 404's to a handling page:
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule (.+) /My_Hander_Page?original=$
From the handler page, you can either return the content you want to show, redirect them to the page you think they wanted, or send a custom 404 page.
ASKER
I have a few questions.
ahoffmann - does that simple rule require that the file names are the same ie: widget.shtml goes to widget.php? All my file names may or may not be the same so how would this work?
routinet - This sounds good but how do I set up the handling page? Could you give me a brief explanation of the rule.?
I think we are on the right track so if I can just get my brain wrapped around this I'll be good.
Thanks
Ken
ahoffmann - does that simple rule require that the file names are the same ie: widget.shtml goes to widget.php? All my file names may or may not be the same so how would this work?
routinet - This sounds good but how do I set up the handling page? Could you give me a brief explanation of the rule.?
I think we are on the right track so if I can just get my brain wrapped around this I'll be good.
Thanks
Ken
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ASKER
I think that with both of these ideas I can work it out.
Thanks
Ken
Thanks
Ken
a simple rule there might look like:
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} \.shtml$
RewriteRule (.*)\.shtml $1.php