Coverting Site to PHP - Ok to leave html?

B-truE

Hi,

I'm converting another site from .html to .php. The site already recognizes the .php files - and the most current version of PHP is running on the server (.nix).

I plan to leave the *.html files in place, due to their inclusion in search engine databases and user bookmarks.

So, are there any problems or issues that I should be concerned with, considering I will have both an index.php and an index.html in the directories at the same time?

I don't really want to meta 'refresh' (dynamically transfer) the index.html pages to the new index.php, because this will affect the search engine placement...

I'd appreciate your comments and insight into this...

Thanks.

B-truE

TheDefender

Well, you'd have to look to see the order of your default directory files. If the order goes .htm, .html, *.php, then index.html will always open before the php file.

You'd have to change the configuration so that the files order with the index.php file first. Other than that, not really... (Unless someone browses directly to index.html instead of to the directory root.)

B-truE

Originally posted by TheDefender
Well, you'd have to look to see the order of your default directory files. If the order goes .htm, .html, *.php, then index.html will always open before the php file.

I can't remember where to look to be sure about the order.... Where should I look? [RedHat 9.0]

B-truE

TheDefender

You running Apache? If so, it'd be in the http.conf file.

superwormy

An entirely better solution might just be to tell Apache to parse *.html documents as PHP... You can make the change in an .htaccess file.

That way, you could still use the *.html extension but still be able to use PHP as well...

B-truE

Originally posted by superwormy
An entirely better solution might just be to tell Apache to parse *.html documents as PHP... You can make the change in an .htaccess file.

That way, you could still use the *.html extension but still be able to use PHP as well...

Hi superwormy,

Thanks for responding... How is that a better way. It can slow things down... I prefer PHP, and just need *.html to work too, so do you still think it would be better to do the .htaccess method in this case?

B-truE

By the way, if I wanted .html to be parsed as .php, couldn't I just add the following to the httpd.conf file, rather than doing so in a .htaccess file?

AddType application/x-httpd-php .html

B-truE

superwormy

I feel its a better solution because this way you won't need to have both a .php and a .html version of the same page. You can just embed PHP right in all of your .html files and it will work fine.

You won't to worry about inclusion in serach engines or anything, since none of your pages will be changing names, they'll all still be the original *.htlm names.

Also, I HIGHLY DOUBT that you'll notice any speed decrease. And yes, you could place that in your httpd.conf file, but most hosting services will not let you edit the httpd.conf file... so unless you have a dedicated server you probably can't edit that file.

What do you mean you prefer PHP... do you mean you prefer the .php extension ofver the .html extension... ? Why does the extension you are using matter...?

B-truE

Originally posted by superwormy
I feel its a better solution because this way you won't need to have both a .php and a .html version of the same page. You can just embed PHP right in all of your .html files and it will work fine.

You won't to worry about inclusion in serach engines or anything, since none of your pages will be changing names, they'll all still be the original *.htlm names.

Also, I HIGHLY DOUBT that you'll notice any speed decrease. And yes, you could place that in your httpd.conf file, but most hosting services will not let you edit the httpd.conf file... so unless you have a dedicated server you probably can't edit that file.

What do you mean you prefer PHP... do you mean you prefer the .php extension ofver the .html extension... ? Why does the extension you are using matter...?

Well, I have already built most of the (large) php site (w/ php extensions), so it would be a pain to change it all now.

So, I was thinking that I would leave both the html and the php files in the directories.

Yes, I do have a dedicated server, so I can edit everything...

I guess my questions at this point are:

1). Is there any search-engine-friendly way to add refresh statements (meta or javascript) to some of my html files? If so, please share code example. [Only those that are a part of the main site structure - i.e. index.html files in the directories.]

2). Is the "AddType application/x-httpd-php .html" statement valid to be in the current version of PHPs httpd.conf file? Or, does it need to be like this "AddType application/x-httpd4-php .html" (with the '4' included)? Also, does that statement make PHP parse .html as .php?

3). Where can I find complete instructions on using the .htaccess method? [...Just in case I end up with no other choice.]

4). Does anyone have any examples of how speed is affected by having the *.html files parsed as PHP files? If so, please share.... [Speed is of big concern...]

Thank you very much.

B-truE

superwormy

1) Google and several SEOs I've talked with usually reccomend sending a 302 Permentently Moved header

2) It's valid. It SHOULD NOT have the 4. It does make it parse PHP within *.html documents.

3) Google.

4) I HIGHLY doubt it makes any difference, ESPECIALLY since you are doing away with .html files... so what does it matter. It's not going to make it slower than .php files, its just going to make it slower than regular static .html files. .php files and .html files will run at the same rate. But seriously, most PHP scripts execute in like less than 0.1 seconds, so unless you're hosting some serious traffic on your dedicated server, you won't be noticing the difference.