Graphic/Web Design Blog

This quick post explains how to redirect users to different pages on your website and in theory, not harm your Google Page Rank. Basically using the 301 error code tells a search engine or browser that the file was once there, and it has permanently moved.

Error 3o1: Permanently Moved should not be confused with the more frequently seen Error 404: Page Not Found. This error code is generally used to indicate that content does not exist anymore. Error 404’s will eventually filter out of search engines over time.

Note: It is assumed you have a general understanding of how to make/edit a .htaccess file.

To relocate one page use this snippet:

Redirect 301 /oldpage.php http://www.yoursite.com/newpage.php

You can add as many of these lines to your .htaccess file as needed. However, if you would rather just move all 301 errors to your main page (or any page for that matter), use this snippet of code:

Redirect 301 / http://www.yoursite.com

There are many other ways to handle a redirect, but this way I find is the easiest and requires the least amount of coding.

I manually back up my data monthly, but recently my webhost lost all their servers. How does one recover from such a tragedy? Painstakingly slow, that’s how.  I have 4 of 5 sites back online, but was unable to recover the latest design of my portfolio site. Uploading backups take along time, and they may not be the most current data.

I for one have learned a valuable lesson, and others should back up sites frequently (especially if you made them for someone else), and never rely on a webhost as a safety net.

I love using BBClone as a quick on the fly page counting system. BBClone is a website counter written in php and gives the user a quick summary of who is on their site and where that visitor came from.

Note:
This post will be very technical assuming the reader has a basic understanding of BBClone and the ability to edit your blog’s source code with a text editor.

For starters this is the snippet of code you will need:

<?php
define(’_BBC_PAGE_NAME’, $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']);
define(”_BBCLONE_DIR”, “../website/bbclone/“);
define(”COUNTER”, _BBCLONE_DIR.”mark_page.php”);
if (is_readable(COUNTER)) include_once(COUNTER);
?>

There are two parts to this code that make it work with WordPress. The first is on the first line and is dark red. $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] will display this when a visitor hits a page:

This is the complete path to the page minus the root directory.

Note:
If you are familiar with BBClone those stats will make sense. For readers not familiar with BBClone this tells me I had a hit to my Changing Measurements Shortcut in InDesign blog post with referer digg.com and with a search query of indesign.

The green text on line two: ../website/bbclone/ is the path where bbclone will write to. This will be different depending what directory contains the bbclone files.

I have not been able to get it to work except when adding the code manually to the source code of each page in my blog.

What I did was opened the following pages in a php text editor: 404.php, archive.php, index.php, links.php, page.php, search.php, single.php and then looked for this code:

<?php get_sidebar(); ?>
<?php get_footer(); ?>

I placed the snippet of code directly after the get_footer() function. When I tried to place the code in the actual footer.php file all I received was error messages, so this was the next best thing.

Good luck, leave a comment if you get stuck and I will try to help debug.

Adding a favicon to your website can be done with an online favicon generator and one line of html code.

First, check out this site to create your favicon out of a square image or if you prefer to create it in Adobe Photoshop you will need to download a plug in from telegraphics. Remember favicons are 16×16 square images so simple images are better.

Next, save this image to the root directory of your website.

Finally, add this snippet of code to the header section of each webpage:

<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”favicon.ico” type=”image/ico” />

This method is pretty universal but should be checked in many popular browsers. It should also be noted that depending on some servers the favicon man not display immediately.

Pemaquid Communications, a Maine based design company posted a press release on Press Release Maine that they are creating custom Facebook Applications using facebook’s open architecture. According to Pemaquid Communication’s blog, they have already created a dynamic interface for local Maine band Lost on Liftoff.

Read the press release on prmaine.com:
Pemaquid Communications releases Facebook apps

Designs by Calvin announces a complimentary redesign for a nonprofit in need of website design services.

Rules and Restrictions:

• Must be a 501(c)(3) Charity
• Must be located in Maine
• Cannot be affiliated with a national charity or brand
• Total Annual Revenue must be less than One Million Dollars
• Administrative costs must be less than 10% of total revenue

No new content will be added to the site. Designs by Calvin will only redesign existing content.

This free service will be in exchange for the right to use created site as a portfolio piece.

Email Calvin with any questions or leads.

Images can be used to replace the old boring gray submit buttons, and it can even be done with one line of html code! (more…)