[WEB400] Re: Simple redirection at the server level

[David Gibbs <david@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Joe Pluta wrote:
> As to my initial question, it seems that the redirect is the answer; but
> I still get confused between a redirect and a URL rewrite.  What are the
> pros and cons of these two methods?

Redirect is fairly simple, I think ... it simply lets you redirect a 
request from one to the other.

Rewrite lets you perform some rather complex transformations on the 
request.

For instance: On the 'lists.midrange.com' site, I have it configured to 
redirect any request that is starts with 
'http://lists.midrange.com/listinfo/<listname>' to 
'http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/<listname>'.

It also lets me do things based on other variables, such as REFERRER, 
HOSTNAME, HOSTADDRESS, etc.  Thus, I can actually cause visitors who 
link in from google to go to a different page than the one they requested.

> And with a redirect, what is the function of the "Status of the URL
> Path"?  It allows me to select between various HTTP codes such as 301
> and 410; why would I choose one status over the other?

I think this is mainly for the benefit of robots and search engines ... 
if you flag a page as gone, they will probably drop it from their search 
list.  If it's flagged as moved temporarily, then they will revisit the 
same URL in the future.  If it's flagged as moved permanently, then they 
will remove the old URL and add the new URL.

I'm not 100% sure about that though.

david