Category Archives: web

Timeless permalink

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Before this blog had the following URL structure /yyyy/mm/dd/sample-post/ ex: /2018/09/05/sample-post/  . Most online newspapers follow this URL structure. It’s great when the blog creates a lot content.

Over time, I figured out my posts still had visitors years after.  In terms of SEO, search engine may not  directly penalize in their algorithms but people will naturally look for content with a recent date.

More over, I often updated old posts . So I had to change the permalink structure.

I removed the date in the URL so the permalink changed from  /2018/09/05/sample-post to /sample-post

Someone liked your old post and shared the link . Now this link doesn’t work anymore , it is broken. You have to redirect the old URL to the new ones.

The redirection must be permanent , use the HTTP code 301 . A 302 is a temporary redirection. I use the plugin redirection .

You could redirect URL one by one, it will be time consuming. Better use a regular expression ( regex ) . Mine is

^/\d{4}/\d{2}/\d{2}/(.*)
/$1/

Yoast redirect tool  is a great tool to figure out the regex from your old permalink structure to the new one.

More tips from the expert

ICANN 60 day lock

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My blog was down for the couple past days, because I changed the hoster.

Normally it should have been very smoothly. The domain was due to expired on July 1st 2017 . The support at FastComet told me to renew at Planethoster because they need 15 days to transfer. But I didn’t expect a 60 day lock after transferring my domain  raychenon.com to the new hoster.  Somehow the registrant’s information  (WHOIS ) was modified when I ordered the transfer not by me directly.

FastComet transferred the website content ( DB, images, post , …)  but the domain name was still with Planethoster. Since the transfer was in progress, I couldn’t edit the DNS, nameservers . But the support at Planethoster could. I was just the middle man between Planethoster and FastComet.  The fix took a week.

Currently the domain is still with Planethoster, but all the existing links are there.

To avoid the 60-day lock :

  • Request the transfer to another registrar before changing the registrant’s information
  • Have the prior registrant opt-out the 60-day lock (if this option is offered by the registrar) before making any change to registrant information.

In the next post, I will explain the reasons why I changed the Cloud Hosting for my blog powered by wordpress.

Back from KingsOfCode

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It’s one week old since I’ve been to Amsterdam for KingsOfCode.  I had one contact (never met in person) on my LinkedIn who organized a side-event. In less than 5 days I planned my trip from Paris to Amsterdam. And I so enjoy it, I  talked with passionnate people. With smaller conference, I can feel mor human atmosphere where you can to talk to speakers directly.

Here are some  pics. Mike Malone (Pownce) and Andy Smith (Jaiku) both were doing a presentation on Django framework.

  • – About micro-blogging . What makes Twitter so popular ?
  • – If you find that one, please let us know . Mike
  • – That’s not because it’s built on top of Ruby on Rails 🙂
  • – I don’t think people care what’s build n top. Andy

koc2

I also chatted with Francisco Tolmasky, former Apple employee.

  • – What kind of profile does Steve Jobs has ? Is he a UI designer, software architect, marketing guy …
  • – Well he’s the guy who chooses what features to add or remove from the ideas . Without Jobs , Apple wouldn’t be what it is today.

de_laren

Low budget Lord of the Rings : the Hunt of Gollum

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This morning on TV, I learnt about a fan Tolkien made movie : ‘The Hunt of Gollum’  for a budget 3000 £ . 160 people were cast on the  40-minute story I think it’s mind-buggling how much can be done for so few means.

With a budget of £3,000, the film cost somewhat less than Peter Jackson’s trilogy, but that doesn’t mean this fan-film looks like it was put together with cardboard and string.The trailer promises a lavish production that models itself closely on Jackson’s vision of Middle-earth – with North Wales, Epping Forest and Hampstead Heath doubling for Tolkien’s orc-infested lands.

For more information http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8022623.stm

The trailer is available on youtube.