invertigo wrote:
Thank you very much for your reply's :)
Page is Valid HTML according to the W3C markup validator, The reason
im using this .HTaccess scripts is pretty simple, I'm using a CMS,
which codes the links like
http://mywebsite.com/?n=modules/forum
Wouldnt it be way better to .htaccess them to
http://mywebsite.com/forum.html
? :)
Yes, it's a "better" URI, as it's more human friendly, and practically
less likely to change when you redesign your website, even though,
theoritically, you could keep the ugly URI as easily as the pretty URI.
However, experience shows that web designers who design ugly URI don't
bother keeping them alive.
However,
http://mywebsite.com/forum is even better than
http://mywebsite.com/forum.html.
It doesn't directly affect search engines. However, if you keep your URI
alive, you'll be accessible from all the pages that refer to your site
(instead of displaying the 404 error), which, indirectly, will improve
your page rank, but, much more directly, will improve the accessibility of
your site.
Good URI don't change.
Now, back to your specific issue.
1) If your site has used the ugly URI for some time, then, do not change
it! Simply, keep them as they are forever, even if the underlying
architecture changes!
People don't like 404 errors. Neither do search engines.
A 301 redirection is better but, if you don't keep it forever, nobody will
ever update their links.
A 302 redirection that you would keep forever could be acceptable.
2) If your site has never ever been publically available with the ugly
URI, then, use the pretty one.
You may read this article written by Tim Berners Lee:
http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI
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