On 2009 Sep 11, at 20:47, Tim Jenness wrote:
> We aren't in control of those servers.
I'm sure this is the real problem. Starlink World Centre is now in
Hawai`i, and so RAL shouldn't be obliged to look after the website.
I don't think that creating a new starlink domain is a good plan
either, since there's a lot of 'brand recognition' for starlink.ac.uk,
and lots of google pagerank goodness.
> Now that we are on a VPN with RAL I wonder whether something
> cleverer can be achieved with us hosting the files (I don't
> understand VPNs mind).
The obvious thing would be for RAL to adjust www.starlink.ac.uk as a
CNAME for a machine at JACH, then SWC can look after these pages.
They needn't be fancy, just not five years out of date.
Step one for the new pages would be to produce a .htaccess that
preserved the current www.starlink.ac.uk/{topcat,ast,...} 307
redirects, and produced 301 redirects for _all_ of the old pages so
that they still work (and our valuable google pageranks still work).
After that, adding goodness can come when there's time.
If RAL won't agree to that, then allowing someone at JACH to manage
the {www,dev}.starlink.ac.uk pages via rsync would be just as good.
If there's a bureaucratic obstacle to this, then perhaps DLG's
intercession could oil a wheel?
I know this is creating work for JACH (and you're _so_ over-staffed,
aren't you...), but the resulting pages needn't be elaborate, just not
wrong.
Malcolm said:
> I wasn't able to build the software needed to updated the software
> database that many ogf the pages use. A few years on, it may be
> easier now to construct the likes of pgadmin (can STILTS genererate
> HTML tables?)
>
> Still-valuable information should be migrated to the JAC Starlink
> wiki rather than tossed into the black bag. It's a low-priority
> item unless you're too embarrassed by the old site. It becomes
> easier if we can all chip in, unless you feel documentation has no
> place in a software project.
>
> Things I had in mind include adapting and updating the FAQ for the
> software, updating SUN/1 (and its website equivalent of classified
> software), and an illustrated summary of the main packages. That
> said a lot of the old website can go.
+1 to all that, but I don't think that's as urgent as simply not
having rubbish on the *.starlink.ac.uk pages.
All the best,
Norman
--
Norman Gray : http://nxg.me.uk
Dept Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, UK
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