Changing directory names

Redirecting nightmare?

[miki99]

I would like to rename some of my directories, as I think that some of my urls may be too lengthy and spammy, with too many keywords repeated.

My main concern is -- would I have to then do a redirect for every single page inside that directory? Some of my directories really contain a lot of html files. Or is there some other way of managing the redirection?

[MelodyAnnRaven]

Yikes, what a nightmare!

You don't say what you're using to create/edit your sites, but if you are using a program that has a site manager, such as Deamweaver, you can usually make changes within the site and the program will then update the internal links for you. If you're not using such a program, and you have a lot of this to do, it may be worth investing! of course you'll have to re-upload every page that was changed once you're done.

[Birdman]

mod_rewrite [httpd.apache.org] or mod_alias [httpd.apache.org] are fairly simple ways to do it. As long as you're on an Apache server and your host allows it you can use an .htaccess file to do the rewrites.

[miki99]

Hi, and thanks for your replies. I'm using Dreamweaver, and I know about updating my internal links site-wide. However, that's not my question.

Birdman, I do have an .htaccess file (and an Apache server) and my host allows rewrites -- however, I know nothing about mod_rewrite or mod_alias. Guess I will Google those terms and hope I can find a tutorial that isn't over my head....

OK, the first tutorial I find tells me: "check all the GET variables coming from your visitors (I think it's trivial to mention that the POST variables are a must to examine)."

I don't have a CLUE what this person is talking about.

How/where do I learn this stuff? And the stuff I need to know before learning the stuff? And possible even the stuff before that?

Thanks.

[tedster]

How/where do I learn this stuff?

We've got some help right here:

[webmasterworld.com...] - Part One of Mod_Rewrite tutorial
[webmasterworld.com...] - Part Two, including Regular Expressions

[miki99]

Tedster, thanks so much! Will go directly to those pages and bookmark them.

[floriniri]

Regarding bookmark... I'd copy the content locally on my hard drive. I once bookmarked those two threads and when I tried to access those they weren't to be found. Weird, maybe my connection or something :)