Opinions wanted

Levi

Moderator
Staff member
I'm currently redoing my website as it needs a refresh (yeah I'm slow :cry:)
A couple of things have struck me while doing it and while reading up on bits and pieces so I've got a few things I'd like opinions on so.....

1) If you have a main page (say services) and it has sub pages (in my case say modelling, rendering and animation) is there any benefits to moving the sub pages into a 'services' folder?

2) When I move host I get a free domain is there any negative/positive effect to having an alternative domain name pointing to your main one.

Thanks
 
Hi Levi - here's my take...

@1) there are benefits to putting subpages into a sub folder as the url is one thing that will be taken into account in search engine results... so basically the folder name will be taken into consideration too, whether it will be any real benefit in this case is debatable but it might help you keep things tidy?
so services/modelling.php might come up better in google if someone typed 'modelling services'...? - rather than it just being modelling.php in your root

@2) if you physically have a duplicate site up under other hosting yes, but if the domain is just forwarded then no, not as far as I'm aware...

sure Jazz/Harry/Geoff might have their views on this to help
 
grr damned error wiped my comment again, new server can't come soon enough!!!

1) That was kind of my thinking, maybe not a lot but possibly a little benefit to SEO. Started thinking on this due to the quicklinks google adds to some sites.

2) It was going to be a redirect. I had 2 ideas/options, 1 was a shorted address for things like business cards etc and the other was more descriptive but then I started thinking how would it affect SEO etc so thought I better get some opinions :)
 
2) When I move host I get a free domain is there any negative/positive effect to having an alternative domain name pointing to your main one.

nothing wrong with it but then again google doesnt really give a crap about shiny new domains pointing anywhere because otehrwise people could fix their website with a billion new sites linking to them. it has to have some credibility to have the linkback make a difference.
 
1) /services/modelling/ has several benefits. a) it looks cleaner than /modelling.php b) it's more usable c) it has SEO benefits d) you can have default.aspx, index.htm, index.html and index.php inside that /modelling/ dir and they'll all mean the same thing (therefore it's more future-proof)

2) Duplicate content = bad. Two identical sites on two separate domains is not a good idea SEO wise. 301 redirect your 'spare' URL to your proper one as I have with www.harryroberts.co.uk
 
So basically
1) yes do it as it's beneficial
2) as long as its a redirect it will be fine :)

Cool that was where I was heading but thought I'd make certain before shooting myself in the foot :)
 
Yeah but…

1) Make sure it's /services/service-name/ and not /services/service-name.php
2) Make sure it's a 301 redirect :)
 
so is this how you mean (better to ask simple questions than balls it all up :)).....

root of folder - main 'link' pages
index.html
services.html
gallery.html
contact.html

services folder - sub headings folders
services/service-name folder
index.html

gallery folder - sub headings folders
gallery/gallery-page-number
index.html

or do you mean more like
root of folder - main 'link' pages
index.html

services folder - sub headings folders
services.html (index.html)
services/service-name folder
index.html

gallery folder - sub headings folders
gallery.html (index.html)
gallery/gallery-page-number

index.html
 
Nope, you'd have

Code:
//services/  /service-name/  /service-name/  /service-name//gallery/  /gallery-name/  /gallery-name/  /gallery-name//contact/

None of your urls should end in a filetype.

Navigate my site to see what I mean.

In fact—http://csswizardry.com/quick-tips/#tip-20 even better. And instead of pointing to /about/index.php you point to just /about/
 
you would still need to stick in an 'index' file though wouldn't you? Index files don't usually show up these days.

and I was probably editing while you were typing :(
 
I only put the index file in for reference rather than type it in the address bar.

I'm right in thinking now that I would need to stick the 'services' page at the top level 'services' folder so that if the person deleted the section of address it would go to that page.
 
Yeah so

HTML:
index.php <!-- Home page -->
services/
  index.php <!-- Main services page -->
  /modelling/
    index.php <!-- Modelling page -->
  /other-service/
    index.php <!-- Other service page -->
contact/
  index.php <!-- Contact page -->
 
cool I think I get the basics now, will probably get it all ripped to shreds when I put it up for a crit :)
 
I think I'm ok for the time being the next major thing is finding some decent tutorials on redirecting (by php) on detection of a mobile browser but I'm going to get everything else sorted first so that won't be for a little while :)
 
I was intending to do it for all major ones, ie opera mobile, mob safari, pocket ie etc.

I've actually got a very simple mobile design (js and css, kind of got an iphone style about it) sorted out (once I finish work on it) and it works properly (been tested) on opera mobile and safari, pocket ie 5 is crap but it degrades to a simple text based link style. It needs to be different to the desktop version as some aspects of it don't work well on mobile browsers and trying to do video on a mobile browser is a big no no:)

But like I say, I'm concentrating on the main bits first, then I'll deal with the finer details, I can add in redirects after it's up and running :)
 
I personally don't get the file extension and why that's an issue TBH?

As example.com/dir/page.htm

shows me where I am in the hierarchy of the site

to ~ example.com/dir/page/

There could be several pages further on just be looking at that url it gives me less of an idea to where I am.

But yeah I would stick your keywords in there but don't overdo it though.
 
Well it's more future proof to not rely on file extensions. If the site got redone in asp from php then you'd have to redirect every exiting link to a new file extension.

Also, it looks a lot cleaner IMO not having file extensions everywhere, and it's easier for users to 'hack' without having to worry about maintaining the file type.
 
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