On Friday Google announced that from 1st of March 2010 it will no longer support IE6 and from that date, users of older browsers (IE6 included) may find that key functionality in Google Docs and Google Sites will no longer work properly. Other parts of Google will also stop working as changes are made without the excessive amount of effort required to make web 2.0 sites work in a web 0.5 browser.

Google go on to recommend upgrading to one of the following:-
• IE – At least Version 7
• Firefox – Version 3+
• Google Chrome – Version 4+
• Safari – Version 3+

As Project Manager at Zeta I would go further and recommend that you install the most current version of your chosen browser as IE 7 is already outdated with IE 8 being the current version of Internet explorer.

With Google now running as much as 13% of all active internet sites either directly or on behalf of one of the various services Google provides, this is going to make it very difficult for people to put off upgrading for much longer.

So what are you waiting for… Update your web browser now if you have not already!

The hackers were able to exploit security vulnerabilities in the 10-year-old browser and operating system  combination of IE6 on Windows XP.

This was a zero-day exploit, which means it was a new-found vulnerability that the vendor (in this case Microsoft) and antivirus / security companies were unaware of. Meaning there was no security fix for this issue.

The main reason many companies including high-street names and government organisations  are still using this dated browser is applications they need to use were not written to be standards compliant and instead were specifically written to work in IE6. This means that despite the fact we have already gone through IE7 and now onto IE8 the old dinosaur of IE6 will not die.

The lesson to be learnt for project sponsors and developers is: if you are creating or designing an application, make sure you future-proof your applications and investment by ensuring you are compliant with the most current standards – rather than tying yourself to a single browser or vendors’ technology – as that will always end up holding you back in the future.

As an internet user, as well as using a good antivirus program, always make sure that you are using the most up-to-date versions of your web browser to increase security.  You might also consider using one of the alternatives to Internet Explorer: Safari, Firefox and Chrome.  Microsoft applications -  which include IE – have been reported as one of the top programs to hack by cyber criminals (Forbes 2009).

We want to automatically 301 redirect all requests like:

http://domain.com/anything.html to http://www.domain.com/anything.html

AND

http://www.secondarydomain.com/anything.html to http://www.domain.com/anything.html

First you need to enable the rewrite engine (you may already have this line in your .htaccess file so double check before you add it):

RewriteEngine on

For a single domain we redirect any request that begins domain.com to www.domain.com

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^domain.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com/$1 [L,R=301]

If you only have one domain this is all you need to do.

For two or more domains follow this format:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^ primarydomain.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(.*)secondarydomain.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(.*)secondarydomain.co.uk [NC,OR]
#–> Carry on adding as many of these lines as you need

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(.*)secondarydomain.net [NC]
#—————–>> Note there is no OR on the last condition^^^

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.primarydomain.com/$1 [L,R=301]

It would also be wise to set the canonical URL in Google Webmaster tools.

We will post a guide on how to specify a canonical index page next week.

One way to do this is to create a new document root directory and edit your vhosts configuration, but when you’re using a control panel like Plesk you are asking for trouble if you start messing around with the file system.

A much easier way, when using Apache, is to create a splash page and redirect traffic from IP addresses other than your own while you are busy uploading and debugging.

This can be done very simply using the .htaccess file:

1.    Create a directory in your document root directory named “maintenance”
2.    Upload your splash page and all linked files (images, css etc) here
3.    Add the following to your .htaccess file:

##  DOWN FOR MAINTENANCE FOR EVERYONE EXCEPT US  ##
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} !99\.99\.99\.99
RewriteRule !^maintenance/ http://www.mydomain.com/maintenance/ [R,L]

Just change the 99\.99.99\.99 for your own IP and dont remove the slashes. If you have load balanced connections, like us, or developers working from different locations you can add more IPs:

##  DOWN FOR MAINTENANCE FOR EVERYONE EXCEPT US  ##
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} !99\.99\.99\.99 [OR]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} !88\.88\.88\.88 [OR]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} !77\.77\.77\.77
RewriteRule !^maintenance/ http://www.mydomain.com/maintenance/ [R,L]

I’ve used a 302 redirect because the move is temporary.

Similar figures are borne out in the UK. An Ofcom report in November found that there are 26 broadband connections for every 100 people, compared to 121 mobile phones per 100 people. These are significant numbers for anyone who runs a website or blog. As mobile devices become more sophisticated and offer far better web browsing experiences, it becomes increasingly likely that users will be accessing web sites and applications from behind a mobile, not just a desktop or laptop computer.

Apple took the concept of mobile web browsing mainstream when it launched the touch-screen iPhone in the US in June 2007 (a belated UK release followed in November 2007). In the same way that it’s hard to conceive of pre-iPod MP3 players (they were chunky and user unfriendly, as a rule), mobile manufacturers were forced to respond to Apple’s sleek device.

Finnish mobile giant Nokia launched its first touch enabled device in the UK in December. The 5800 XpressMusic includes Nokia’s Comes With Music service, which offers users free access to millions of tracks and is intended to challenge the dominance of iTunes. The phone will be followed by the more business-focused Nokia N97, due to be released in the summer. It has both a touch screen and QWERTY keypad to for painless web browsing and email.

Over at BlackBerry, its first touch-screen smartphone, the Storm, was released in November. But it’s hampered by its lack of Wi-Fi and a horrible interface. The convoluted process of selecting an item involves having to tap the screen, which sits on a small rocker, and then prod it a second time.

Other companies, including Glofiish, HTC and Palm have all come up with their own post-iPhone take on mobiles. But it’s the T-Mobile G1 – the ‘Google phone’ – that attracted the most attention on its release last year.

The first generation G1 is less sleek than the iPhone and its keys are comically tiny. Its main attraction is that it uses Google’s operating system, Android, which allows anyone to design and distribute ‘widgets’ for the phone. (In contrast, Apple only allows iPhone programs that it’s approved to make it to the Apps branch of the iTunes store.)

Google already provides mobile versions of its products, including search, Gmail, Google Maps and YouTube. And in February it introduced Google Latitude, which allows users to see their friends’ locations (or the locations of their mobiles, at least).

Indeed, the true potential of the mobile web – whether it’s being run on Windows Mobile, Linux or Unix – is in exploiting services that allow users to access content tailored to wherever they are. Location-based services are in their early days but there are already some ingenious applications available, including:

• Wikinear, which delivers Wikipedia pages that are relevant to your location
• Location-based social network Brightkite
• Loopt, which promises to “transform your mobile phone into a social compass”
• Travel planner Dopplr
• Qype, which offers localised, user-generated reviews of pubs and restaurants
• A host of applications powered by Yahoo’s geo-location service Fire Eagle

The mobile web has already started to alter how we use the internet: 800,000 mobile subscribers in the UK access social networking sites using their phones, for instance. As The Observer’s John Naughton puts it, “Mobile phones will come to be the way in which most people get access to the internet most of the time.”

Whether you wish to provide mobile e-commerce, a location-based service or simply a version of your site that’s optimised for viewing on mobile devices, now is the time to embrace the mobile web. We have seen the future – and it fits in your pocket.