Best way to launch new and improved web site?

July 1, 2008 10:33 AM

What is the best way to launch a new web site? We are going to launch a new and improved web site in the coming weeks. Should we just delete the old web site and post the new OR should we place redirects on the old pages to the new home page? I've heard that it's best not to just delete, but I wanted to get some feedback here. Thanks to all.
posted by Jackie_Treehorn to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Unless you have zero readers and/or I'm misunderstanding the question, it should be relatively trivial to create re-directs. If you're using Apache, just use some .htaccess docs, make sure it's using a Permanent Redirect (HTTP code 301, IIRC) and you should be set.
posted by burnfirewalls at 10:42 AM on July 1, 2008

Your main problem is that you don't know who's linked to any of your existing pages. You can either:
- delete your old site and not care about incoming links (the simplest option);
- keep around your old site and add links on all pages to their newer equivalents;
- create a mapping of old pages to their newer equivalents and use Apache's mod_rewrite or something to transparently redirect users

I'd go for #3. It's the most work, but provides the best user experience. YMMV based on the type and content of your site, of course.
posted by xbonesgt at 10:44 AM on July 1, 2008

Response by poster: i should be able to use the .htaccess file as i have it on my server.

i've looked up examples that look like this:
Redirect 301 /oldpage.html http://www.example.com/newpage.html

would i make an entry in the .htaccess file for every page i am redirecting? example:
Redirect 301 /page1.html http://www.example.com/newpage1.html
Redirect 301 /page2.html http://www.example.com/newpage2.html

or can that example look like this as well and get the same result? example:
Redirect 301 /page1.html /newpage1.html
Redirect 301 /page2.html /newpage2.html
posted by Jackie_Treehorn at 11:59 AM on July 1, 2008

If your new web site is replacing the old on a per-page basis, just flip 'em out. If not, redirects (301s.) If a mix, flip out the overlapping ones and redirect the rest.
posted by davejay at 1:45 PM on July 1, 2008

Oh, and for your second question, if you're doing it in the .htaccess file, definitely /page1.html /newpage1.html -- there's no need to redirect the user to the same domain you're already on, and if you want to test your redirects on a staging server or something, that'll actually keep them from working properly.
posted by davejay at 1:46 PM on July 1, 2008

Just think about your users. Assuming you have loyal users of the old web site, do you want to retain them on the new web site? Or do you want to antagonize them? Look at it from a user's perspective and you will see the way.
posted by exphysicist345 at 7:34 PM on July 1, 2008