Category: Webmaster Tools Resources

We recently made some changes for better SEO by removing “index.html” from the ends of many of the links in navigation sections of the web templates. The reason behind this update is to unify the URL patterns across our HTML pages, sitemap, and Google indexes. Why does this matter?

Search engines prefer clean URLs that are easy for users to read and remember. Removing unnecessary parts like “index.html” can help improve our site’s search engine ranking and overall user experience.

In support of this, we’ve updated approximately 200 destination URLs in our main redirects file to remove “index.html.” If you’re adding redirects to your sites or subdirectories in the future, make sure to exclude “index.html” from the destination URL.

Here’s an example of the right and wrong way to set it up:

Incorrect:

RedirectMatch (?i)^/acrec https://www.clemson.edu/public/acrec/index.html

Correct:

RedirectMatch (?i)^/acrec https://www.clemson.edu/public/acrec/

Important Note: It’s still acceptable to include “index.html” in the source URL (the first URL column), if you need to target it specifically. For example:

RedirectMatch (?i)^/acrec/index.html https://www.clemson.edu/public/acrec/

By following this practice, you’ll help ensure our URLs are SEO-friendly and look a little nicer too!

Brief:

The Interior template hero images/banners were originally designed to be more of a “masthead”, to be consistent throughout parts of a site. This is why we have the image for this section set in the options block. We have had many questions regarding some custom edits to the titles/image, which are limited here to keep this consistency across all interior pages within a folder or sub-site where a new options block is set. Previously we had an option to set the title to be either current folder’s display name OR the parent folder’s display name. This was causing some issues with multiple level items that were not intended to be sub-sites.

The Fix:

We have updated the way the titles are targeted for display. There is no longer a radio button selection for this in the options block. The titles in these banners/mastheads for interior pages are now targeted by the closest option block’s current folder. This title will trickle down throughout any sub items using the interior page template, until a folder is reached with a new options block. Any pages in that new level (along with the new options block) and deeper levels will have the new display name from the new option block’s current folder. This may be confusing to some. I will try to map it out below – in hopes i do not confuse any further. Please let me know if you have any questions.

For example:

/example-site-folder/ – has the display name – Example Site Folder.

/example-site-folder/options – options block is set here to get above display name on all interior pages

/example-site-folder/interior-page.html – display name displayed in masthead/banner – Example Site Folder

/example-site-folder/subfolder/interior-page.html – display name displayed in masthead/banner – Example Site Folder

/example-site-folder/subfolder/another-sub-folder/ – has display name – Another sub folder

/example-site-folder/subfolder/another-sub-folder/options – options block is set here to get above display name for  /another-sub-folder on all interior pages from here on out

/example-site-folder/subfolder/another-sub-folder/interior-page.html – display name displayed in masthead/banner – Another sub folder

Next Steps:

Publish any interior pages using the interior page template in your redesign site to catch this update.

Creating a text file called “htaccess.txt” (all lowercase and no quotes) is a simple way to password protect certain Web pages.

Create a new file in any text editor such as Notepad (Windows) or Text Edit (Mac) and name it htaccess.txt. Copy the following text in red into your htaccess.txt file.

AuthType shibboleth
ShibRequireSession On

require valid-user

The example  above will allow access to anyone with a valid Clemson userid and password (more options below).

Save the file and upload it to the same folder as the page want to password protect. If you are using Cascade, you will need to publish it to the server to enable the protection. Please note that if you have already logged in recently you may need to restart your browser before it will ask you to re-login.

Note: every asset in the same folder as the htaccess.txt file will be password protected.

The level of security varies with the options outlined in the file.

If you want to limit access to specific userids, then you would replace the valid-user variable with the specific valid userids:

require userid1
require userid2
require userid3

This will allow only the users userid1, userid2 and userid3 to have access.

Maybe you want to restrict access to just employees?

require primary-affiliation employee

Or perhaps only users of a specific blackboard workgroup?

require edirgroup .workgrouptest.workgroups.sitesets.clemsonu

For more information, visit CCIT’s page on Htaccess Controls.

There are now two types of MySQL databases available. If you need a database for a production application for a university department one will be assigned to you. This is a version 5 MySQL database resource. It is backed up at the database level (not the record level).

Request a departmental or organizational MySQL database:
http://www.clemson.edu/ccit/request_resources/webmaster/mysql_request/dept_mysql/index.html

If you are interested in having a MySQL database for a personal website for you to use to learn to code database applications in PHP you can request one, however this is strictly a “sandbox” and is NOT a production server. It may not be available at any given instant and could be pulled completely without prior notice. So, you should never put any mission-critical data in your database. This is a version 5 MySQL database resource.

Request a personal MySQL database
http://www.clemson.edu/ccit/request_resources/webmaster/mysql_request/personal_mysql/index.html

CASCADE USERS
Your site currently gets published to a Web server with large file space allocation. Request space only for Web applications used in your site. Newly created space, if approved, will go on a server separate from the rest of your site. If you are requesting space on the media server to house images, pdfs and documents only, please complete the Web Service at ows@g.clemson.edu.

NON-CASCADE USERS
This is to request space for departments and organizations other than recognized student organizations only. All individuals with userids on the Clemson system have personal Web space automatically created for them in the public.www directory of their U: drive. Student organizations also all have Web space created for them through Student Affairs/Student Clubs and Organizations.

Request space here: http://www.clemson.edu/ccit/request_resources/webmaster/web_space_request/index.html

A current list of top-level Web Responsible University Officials can be found at the address below. These are people that the Creative Services Web team recognizes as the contact person at the top level for departments and colleges across the university.

http://www.clemson.edu/ows/services/ruolist.html