shtml and redirects

[tbeach]

I am considering changing several index.html pages to index.shtml to allow for ssi's. The host I'm using allows only index.htm, index.html, index.asp, default.htm, default.html, and default.asp as default pages to a directory.
In using index.shtml as the default there is a redirect incurred.
The questions:
..By doing this could I be jeopardizing SE rankings of existing pages due to these redirects?

.. Can I be sure the redirects are consistent and I'd not be losing traffic to "Page Not Found" errors?

..Anything else you can add would be appreciated.
Thanks
Tom Beach

[encyclo]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, Tom.

The first question you need to ask is why your host doesn't allow index.shtml as the directory index - it looks like an oversight on their part.

As you mention index.asp and default.asp, I assume you're hosted on a Windows server. Have you thought about using index.asp rather than index.shtml? The syntax is the same as SSI for simple includes, and it will allow you to use other more advanced ASP code in the page later on, without changing the file extension again.

[tbeach]

Encyclo, They are making some changes. I believe they just switched to windows.
My pages are static with the exception of the few bits of ssi that i want to incorporate. Menus that encompass many pages and features that change often.

Within their (the hosts) documentation it states that any pages that have ssi's will need to have a shtml file extension.

But you could very well be right that the .asp extension would work as this information is pre-new Windows server.
I'll check with them. Though it could be days before I get an answer.
Thanks again