Slight Site Reorganization

Some of you may have noticed that the URL of my weblog has changed. It’s now /life/ instead of /weblog/. This is not because I think “Life” is a great name for my weblog, or because I think this is not a blog or something. I actually liked using the name “weblog” because it’s the simplest, most accurate description.

The reason for the change is Google. I had the word “weblog” in both the title of the HTML document as well as in the URL, and as a result, almost all the Google ads going on my archived pages were for blogging services instead of something related to the actual content of the entries. This means I was losing out on potential ad revenue, and possibly that Google search results in which Sinosplice turns up were skewed as well. All because of my stupid title tag and weblog URL.

So I did the practical thing and changed them. Hence /life/. All I had to do was change the directory and make a few changes in WordPress. Then I was able to avoid dead links with a bit of code in my .htaccess file (which normally all fits on one line):

> Redirect permanent /weblog https://www.sinosplice.com/life

I think my ads are doing better already, but it’s hard to say this early.

I also updated my home page, reflecting the new look I began implementing a while ago. I incorporated javascript visibility toggle and RSS feed integration, as well as lots of feed links, eliminating the need for the /feeds/ page I created a while ago. I like the new page.

I also finally redid my /china/ page, so now the five sections of my site (as listed in the top nav bar) have a uniform look and feel. (Next up: the sorely outdated /network/ page. I’m glad to get this stuff done; it helps pave the way for new content.

I have a presentation on Noam Chomsky in one of my linguistics classes coming up in early December that I’ll be working hard on in the next two weeks, but more (non-blog) content is coming soon after.