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    Is my Index page a thing of the past?

    I'm building a new responsive site and my logo links to my index page from the old site. I know in thew past we used to like static html index pages for fast loading but should my new site use the stock SFNT page as the "home" page? If so, where do I change the link so the logo goes to the SFNT page not the old Index page? Thanks!
    Andrew Rowsom
    S.T. Preston & Son inc.
    www.prestons.com

    #2
    Re: Is my Index page a thing of the past?

    Hello Andrew,

    Is there somewhere on the internet we can see your site? My assumption would be in the Global Header you'll find some code for the logo and where it's linking to. Whether you link it to a static page or the SFNT page is up to you. If you use the SFNT page you could keep the site built within Miva. Additionally, you'd be able to show products on the SFNT Page to grab the customer's attention.

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      #3
      Re: Is my Index page a thing of the past?

      Thanks for your reply. Here's a link to the Storefront: http://dev.prestons.com/mm5/merchant...T&Store_Code=P . The index page is dev.prestons.com . Is there any reason not to have the entire site within Miva? I Assume the site was originally built with a Static html home page for SEO reasons but it seems silly not to have a responsive home page these days.
      Andrew Rowsom
      S.T. Preston & Son inc.
      www.prestons.com

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Is my Index page a thing of the past?

        Ok so the code behind the scenes actually says to go to http://dev.prestons.com/ but index.html is being served because of the natural hierarchy behind the scenes. If you don't specify what is supposed to be the home page then the server will follow that natural hierarchy and server an index page first. I added a DirectoryIndex to your .htaccess file and set your SFNT page which resolved the issue.

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          #5
          Re: Is my Index page a thing of the past?

          Great! Thank you very Much!!
          Andrew Rowsom
          S.T. Preston & Son inc.
          www.prestons.com

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Is my Index page a thing of the past?

            Andrew, you are very welcome!



            For those that may be wondering what I put in the top of the .htaccess file:

            DirectoryIndex /mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=P
            Be sure to replace the "P" in the Store_Code="" to be your store's code.

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              #7
              Just FYI, depending on server configuration, you may need to explicitly remove the index.html file to have the storefront served instead, even with the .htaccess directive. This can occur if the server in question has the Nginx web server software answering the initial request, as it will see the index.html and serve it prior to the Apache web server receiving the request (and thus triggering the .htaccess directives).

              Next, I strongly recommend password protecting your entire dev site now that you've posted it in the forum; Google will now know about it, and you're going to end up having duplicate content issues as well as potentially having customers shop on it.
              David Hubbard
              CIO
              Miva
              [email protected]
              http://www.miva.com

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                #8
                Do you plan on getting away from the old style dynamic links and moving to URI Management? If so, this is going to change the way some of this is setup/implemented.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by ILoveHostasaurus View Post
                  Just FYI, depending on server configuration, you may need to explicitly remove the index.html file to have the storefront served instead, even with the .htaccess directive. This can occur if the server in question has the Nginx web server software answering the initial request, as it will see the index.html and serve it prior to the Apache web server receiving the request (and thus triggering the .htaccess directives).

                  Next, I strongly recommend password protecting your entire dev site now that you've posted it in the forum; Google will now know about it, and you're going to end up having duplicate content issues as well as potentially having customers shop on it.
                  Thanks for your suggestion. Should I simply delete the index.php page on my FTP client? How do I go about password protecting the dev site? thanks!
                  Andrew Rowsom
                  S.T. Preston & Son inc.
                  www.prestons.com

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Prestons View Post

                    Thanks for your suggestion. Should I simply delete the index.php page on my FTP client? How do I go about password protecting the dev site? thanks!

                    In your hosting control panel, https://prestons.com:8443 or https://web023.mivamerchant.net:8443, click into Websites & Domains, then under the dev.prestons.com, click "Show More" and look for a Password-Protected Directories button. Just add protection for a directory named as simply a forward slash / and add one or more users to it, and you'll be locked down from public traffic without authenticating. That will keep search bots from accidentally indexing your dev site.
                    David Hubbard
                    CIO
                    Miva
                    [email protected]
                    http://www.miva.com

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Dan - Glendale Designs View Post
                      Do you plan on getting away from the old style dynamic links and moving to URI Management? If so, this is going to change the way some of this is setup/implemented.
                      Dan, Thanks for your question. I have looked into moving to URI management but the dangers of losing (at least in the short term) on my organic search results has made me place that procedure on the back burner for now. What's your advice and is this a service that you offer?

                      Thanks!

                      Andrew
                      Andrew Rowsom
                      S.T. Preston & Son inc.
                      www.prestons.com

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Hey Andrew,

                        This is definitely a service we offer, however as you noted there is always a chance for fluctuation while Google re-indexes/digests everything, even with the proper 301 redirects in place. That said, there are options here, feel free to reach out to us if you would like to discuss further.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by Dan - Glendale Designs View Post
                          Hey Andrew,

                          This is definitely a service we offer, however as you noted there is always a chance for fluctuation while Google re-indexes/digests everything, even with the proper 301 redirects in place. That said, there are options here, feel free to reach out to us if you would like to discuss further.
                          Dan, Thanks for your thoughts. Ive been away for a couple of weeks and just now getting back into it. My new site is going to require a bunch of category changes in order to tighten it up. The structure on my current site likely has loads of duplicate content. In light of those two factors, I think it makes sense to switch over to URI management in order to create canonical URI's and to assign 301 redirects in a much more user friendly manner. Let me now if that makes sense or if I'm barking up the wrong tree. Thanks!
                          Andrew Rowsom
                          S.T. Preston & Son inc.
                          www.prestons.com

                          Comment


                            #14
                            You're actually using the old style dynamic links if I recall, so you will need to redirect those properly via .htaccess file, even with URI Management implemented. From there, most definitely, URI Management makes 301 redirects easy on your part moving forward. Something else to keep in mind is any 3rd party module displays and/or tracking snippets that interact with urls, they will need to be updated to support URI Management as well, which there are procedures for.

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