Redirecting Old Site Pages to New WordPress Site

Do you know how many sites link to your old sites' pages? Is your site referenced in Wikipedia? Do you want to keep your old site's search rankings? Then you'll probably want to do a 301 (permanent) Redirect. You do this by creating or editing your site's .htaccess file.

Your WordPress site probably already has a .htaccess file. I copied mine to my local machine and underneath this:

# BEGIN WordPress

RewriteEngine On

RewriteBase /

RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

# END WordPress

I followed this guide and added this below:

redirect 301 /chapters.htm http://www.pnwpga.com/chapters

... etc. until I'd included all the important pages from the old site and their new equivalents (one on each line).

I uploaded the new .htaccess file and saved it over the existing one in my site's root folder. All the redirects are working perfectly! Now I don't have to worry about breaking links on external sites or losing pnwpga.com's good search rankings.

Best CSS Resources Part I

There are some resources on the web that I come to again and again for CSS reference. I'm going to list my favorites here. Hopefully you already have these bookmarked--none are that new. If not, here's a chance to add these to your list of resources.

1. AlsaCreations: http://www.alsacreations.com
This site is in French, but a lot of articles and tutorials are also translated into English. Here is where I first learned hack-free CSS-driven menus that work in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

2. Dead Centre: http://www.wpdfd.com/editorial/thebox/deadcentre4.html
Positioning in CSS was somewhat of a mystery to me until I found this website. The simple working diagram was one big "aha!" moment for me.

3. Accessible CSS Forms: http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/forms
Even when I had freed myself from using tables for layout design, I was still relying on tables to format my forms. After viewing this site, I now have no excuse to use tables anymore for anything other than data.

4. CSS Zen Garden: http://www.csszengarden.com
Beautiful examples of how versatile CSS-driven layouts can be.

5. Equal Height Columns Using CSS: http://www.ejeliot.com/blog/61
This blog article changed my life. Finally, equal height columns without any tables or JavaScript.

6. Maximum and Minimum Height and Width in IE: http://perishablepress.com/press/2007/01/16/maximum-and-minimum-height-and-width-in-internet-explorer
This Perishable Press article is a great way to get around issues in IE without resorting to JavaScript.

These are the six sites or articles that taught me the most about creating valid, CSS-driven sites. If you don't have them bookmarked yet (I do on Delicious), what are you waiting for?

I Love Flash Templates

Now, I mostly use Flash to make animated media and web site intro movies. I learned basic ActionScript, but when it comes to Flash development I'm more of a tinkerer than a developer. That's why I love free Flash template websites, such as http://www.flashmo.com. It's like getting a Lego set. All the pieces are there--pre-built, even. But I get to poke around in the Actions and change the colors and content to suit my needs. With so many great Flash developers out there, it hardly seems worth it to build my own Flash site from scratch. However, I do prefer the Flash templates that are more complex and require knowledge of Flash and ActionScript, as I find them more robust than simpler Flash templates.

What about Flash sites that do it all, like Wix? I haven't tried the site builder tools myself, but I've browsed through quite a few of the sites that others have made. A lot of them look good, but are kind of clunky to use. A Flash site still needs a consistent menu that can take you to any of the pages on the site. Also, a lot of these sites begin with an "Enter" page. That is so outdated! Don't make your user make an extra click just to "Enter site." It is far better to make your intro movie smaller and part of the layout than to devote a separate portal page to it.

For accessibility reasons, it's probably best to integrate Flash elements into your site rather than make a site completely in Flash. But Flash sites can look so good! And that's why Flash templates are a guilty pleasure of mine.

Now with 100% More Shine

I love the concept of Web 2.0. If you're not sure exactly what that is, Wikipedia sums it up nicely: "a perceived second generation of web development and design, that facilitates communication, secure information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration on the World Wide Web."

I especially like the collaboration part, and focus on the users:

Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org

Wikipedia: http://www.wikipedia.com

Wordpress: http://wordpress.com

However, I am totally sick of some of the design concepts of this second generation of web design. Please, no more shiny, bubbly sites like these: 50 "Excellent" Corporate Website Designs".

Ridiculously large graphics: While beautiful, I really hate how enormous the graphics are on these sites.

Identical layout: Huge graphical section on top 2/3rds, bottom 1/3 usually an isolated, plain area with mini blurbs and links to the actual content.

Reverse text: We can't all copy the Apple website design, people.

Gradients: Seems we mustn't use a solid color when a gradient will do.

Gloss: Every button has a glossy visual effect. In fact, most graphics in general do.

Wispy vector graphics: Swirls like liquid motion.

I think it's OK to use a few of these design ideas on a web site. In fact, I use gradients quite a bit on my design site, Marlena Cannon Design. But I really value a site design that looks unique. Too many sites following too many of the above trends tends to make them all look the same. I admit, I was annoyed when I saw what Webdesigner Depot had picked as their top 50 corporate sites. They looked like they were all made from the same template!

Also, I really don't think the bubbly web style is fitting for most professional, corporate sites such as bank sites, health care sites, etc. YES for music sites, design sites and mobil phone marketing sites. NO for sites that require users to do more than just gaze upon the beautiful marketing.

Go ahead, fellow designers! Use the shine and the reverse text and the gradients! But don't just copy what Apple and everyone else have already done. Create something unique. And always keep the user in mind. Is it appropriate to have a graphic that takes up 2/3rds of the browser window? Does the user want to see that? Maybe they do. Maybe they don't (I dare you to try to book a ticket on the Southwest site).