Category: Work/Technical

  • 301 Redirects – Move a site down a directory wildcard

    301 redirects, a few things you should know

    When we build a new website for a customer we sometimes build it on their live domain, but in a sub-folder like /dev /new – then when the time comes to make the site live there is sometimes the need to put a redirect in place in case Google has cached the development URLs.

    Now whenever something bakes my noodle and no one in the office can help, I turn to Google but from time to time the big G lets me down too.

    When that happens I turn to our developer Dave, to see if he has an idea..

    Once again, he saved the day.

    If you would like a wildcard redirect to move everything down a directory, then use the following line in your HTACCESS file;

    RewriteRule ^new/(.*)$ /$1 [R=301,NC,L]

    Replace new with the directory (or directories) you wish to remove from the cached URL’s.

    Example:

    http://www.domain.com/new/page.php, Becomes; http://www.domain.com/page.php

    Or

    http://www.domain.com/new/test/another/,  Becomes; http://www.domain.com/test/another/

    My next 301 redirects blog post will be how to move an entire new site to a new domain, complete with wild-cards.

    For more information regarding 301 redirects you can visit the Google Webmaster Support blog.

  • Website owners beware – terrorist attacks on your websites too

    Its hard to ignore the current disputes between ISIS and the rest of the world. Every news program and social feed contains links to videos and articles about this horrible ordeal, and it looks like its now also spread to the digital world.

    I was messaged by a customer who said that their website had been hacked. When I visited the website I was greeted by the message;

    Hacked BY MuhmadEmad ./we are peshmarga

    MuhmadEmad seems to just be the persons name, but peshmarga (peshmerga) is a term used by Kurds to refer to “Armed Kurdish Fighters” which – as far as I can work out – should be people on our side, so im really confused as to why they would hack a little wordpress website that has nothing to do with this conflict.

    I’m still looking into exactly what happened but it seems to have been a Gravity Forms exploit of some description – some files within uploads/gravity_forms/tmp were VERY dodgy so they’ve been downloaded for closer inspection and removed from the site.

    Ive also updated all the plugins, themes and the wordpress core. Passwords for all wordpress user accounts, FTP and MySQL users changed too.

    If you’re having trouble with a hacked website then contact me through twitter or something and ill help as best I can.

  • Chill the hell out about “Your Data”

    Every single day I hear a news report about how some new app is stealin your interwebz or how some new “thing” poses a danger to information stored about you on the web, and within offline systems like the NHS.

    This morning on the radio they were talking about a new scheme that the NHS are starting to roll out that allows the data from GP’s (your data! :P) to be used to improve healthcare and help improve medical research.

    Its worth noting at this point that your personal identity information IS NOT part of this data – only anonymous info about your medical history that is presented to them without being tied to you or any person.

    The radio presenter interviewed a few people who said that due to their “unusual” medical history, anyone looking at their data would be able to identify them without the need for it to have their name or anything next to it.

    I’m genuinely amazed people put up a fight with stuff like this. Why wouldn’t you want the info from your doctors being shared with the hospital? And shared with researchers that might be able to tell you you are going to get cancer at a certain age as they’ve been able to build amazing algorithms that analyze your family medical history, spot trends and report things before they happen?

    Its being able to harvest, analyse and utilise “data” that has brought us into the amazing technological age that we live in today. Google can assist you in your day-to-day life just because of the data you give them when you use their services. They’re not spying on you for sh!ts and grins, they are trying to make your experience of using their services mind blowing so you tell your friends and keep using them!

    It may just be me, but when I search Google on my laptop for a company that i’m going to visit – then get my phone out and Google Now has already loaded a tile up so that with one click, I can load navigation to the place I just searched for – my mind is blown every time. This is an example of Google “spying on you” and as you can see, its not scary at all 🙂

    Don’t get me wrong, there are bad guys out there that do want to trick you but if you stick to well known apps and websites and ensure you have virus protection and scan for malware on your PC – and only install apps on your phone from the Google Play store you should be OK.

    The next time you hear a news story about some big company stealing info, texting adverts to your mates behind your back or recording your private conversations without you even realising (Facebook messenger!) get in touch with someone who is in the know before you start ditching amazing services and products from awesome companies.

    PS Facebook Messenger is fine too – stop being dingbats!

  • Internet killed the [everything] star

    I often hear people talking about how “the internet has killed the high street” and to be honest, i’m getting really sick of it!

    The internet didn’t kill the highstreet – they did that all by themselves!

    In actual fact the high street could massively benefit from the internet if the town centre businesses started using it more to their advantage! Take Argos for example – they could have quite easily given up when the internet started picking up pace – as no one wanted their catalogs any more! But no, instead, they modified their business model and embraced the internet – now their “Click and Collect” model is being copied by Tesco, Asda and everyone else in-between.

    The internet has also made things like fashion, and the ever changing face of it, more accessible to the world. People know what their favorite celeb is wearing as they see it on twitter, and if the high street stores could react as quick as online stores do – they could still be in with a chance of getting the sale. People still like to try clothes on after all!

    The main issues as i see them are as follows

    • Not enough help from the councils and governments – give people free shops for 3/6/9 months and see if they can make it work. They’re all sat empty, so why not?
    • Business overheads – someone who employs 10 people cant compete with someone who sells from their bedroom – not a lot can be done to fix this apart from the bricks and mortar retailers making their offering better!
    • Being idiots – Making silly choices, bad advertising decisions and generally being crap at running a business. I have friends in business and they all do well – its because my friends are not idiots.

    Financially, the economy is on the rise and things are starting to look peachy again – if you have a business idea, if you want to open a shop selling something and its burning a hole in your head – then just go for it!

    What are you waiting for? 🙂