Apr
9
It seems there can be a problem with both the non-www and the www. versions of a domain turning up in search engine listings - like the credit for links being split or the worst possibility being a duplication issue. It’s a precaution worth taking, there’s certainly no harm in it.
No way could it be made to work on some of my sites, so I contacted the hosting support people. I heard nothing back, and ended putting in the code in that I’d seen recommended at forums and that was working with sites on other servers. The automated way through the control panel apparently wasn’t working with that server configuration. A week later I heard from support telling me that it was working, closing the ticket.
This is what the mod_rewrite code in .htaccess looks like that works:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]
And yes, I have redirected pages to example.com - more than once. 
Apr
9
It looks like the latest builds of Gallery have search engine friendly URL capability and some new features, but the one now in first Beta looks best yet. Unfortunately the software that comes with automatic install with Fantastico doesn’t do the more current versions and it’s probably easier in the long run to download and install latest versions than to try to upgrade. WordPress, for example, is far easier to install from scratch than to upgrade.
Apr
9
Upgraded to WordPress 1.5
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It’s supposed to be very simple to customize the look with WordPress 1.5 (this is default Kubrick right now), and after printing out how to accomplish “pretty URLs’ to make the modification, come to find out it’s built right in to 1.5 off_the_shelf. There are supposed to be some enhancements and added features very simply implemented, and a TON of ready made styles out there, so time permitting, which is in short supply now, it’ll be fun to delve into it all. There’s already a lot of buzz about the WordPress 1.5 release:
Official announcement of WordPress 1.5 at the WordPress development blog.
A ton of WordPress 1.5 Themes at Alex King’s site.
Aat How to Blog , tutorials and a list or where there are 250 styles/templates available.
And How to Use Themes at WordPress Codex.
I didn’t do the upgrade myself, my daughter did it for me (thanks, sweetie), with just an unexpected mishap or two along the way, with the site being taken down altogether for a few hours yesterday for “maintenance”. Apparently there was some issue with the database somewhere in the backup and migration, resolved with the help of a PHP programming friend who’s also a talented developer and designer (thanks, Scott).