Recently I had a problem when I moved my blog from blog.fantikerz.com to fantikerz.com. I had far too many links on other sites that still looked like http://blog.fantikerz.com/?p=261, and wouldn’t redirect to the new blog’s location. I wouldn’t even know where to start if I had to change all of those.

Instead, I threw together a simple redirection script that I thought I’d just share in case anyone needed it. It’s nothing fancy at all, and stupid easy to set up. There are many ways of doing this, and in my opinion, this is the easiest.

This is explained in a way that even common folk who just want to move their blog will understand. Sorry if I insult your intelligence.

1. Create a file called index.php

Pop open notepad, go to File > Save As…, set the filename as index.php, and then go directly below that and make sure to set Save As Type to All Files.

2. Copy the script into the text editor

<?php
	$post = $_GET["p"];
	$new = "http://newbloglocation.com";
	$string = $new . "?p=" . $post;

	echo "Redirecting to " . $string;
	header("Location: $string");
?>

3. Plug in your information

This is easy. Just plug in your blog’s new address where http://newbloglocation.com is. Make sure to include the http://. If your blog was located in another directory, you’re also able to include it like so: http://newbloglocation.com/blog/. Otherwise, omit anything after the domain name.

4. Presto, now save it and upload it to your server

Do a quick CTRL+S to save and upload it via FTP to the root of where your old blog used to reside.

Now you’re done. That was easy!

Thankfully, there’s a whole genre of software comprised of free solutions to the otherwise costly mainstream alternatives. This magical genre is called Open Source.

After the break are a few programs that you may find useful, with often just as many features as the costly alternative.

Microsoft Office » OpenOffice

The free and open productivity suite.

Autodesk 3ds Max » Blender

The open source, cross platform suite of tools for 3D creation.

Adobe Photoshop » GIMP

The GNU Image Manipulation Program, for X Windows systems.

Adobe Illustrator » Inkscape

The vector graphics editor.

Techsmith Camtasia/HyperCam 2 » Camstudio

The free alternative for recording on-screen video.

Sony Vegas/Adobe Premiere » Jahshaka

The world’s first OpenSource Realtime Media Playback and Visual Effects System.

Trillian Pro » Pidgin

The multi-protocol Instant Messaging client that allows you to use all of your IM accounts at once.

Halo 2 » Sauerbraten

The singleplayer (2 game modes, savegames) and multiplayer (12 game modes) first person shooter.

Guitar Hero » Frets on Fire

The open source Guitar Hero alternative.

vBulletin » phpBB3

The most widely used Open Source forum solution.

Microsoft Windows » Ubuntu

The free, Debian derived, Linux-based operating system, available with both community and professional support.

By far, the best resource for Open Source applications is SourceForge.net.

Hit the Continue Reading link to see some screenshots…

[Note: The images are large]