Michael,

I would probably build the new site from a directory off the site's root and
leave to old pages intact.  Then, once you have built a page that replaces
one of the old pages, archive the old page somewhere and set up a re-direct
page at the old location to re-route the user to the new page.  Something
like "The page you have requested has been moved.  Please update your
bookmarks/favorites when the updated page loads.  <a
href="https://hwg.org/newsite/newpage.html">Go to new location.</a>" with a 5-second
redirect pause.

In some cases, like when the site is created dynamically from a database,
there is no easy way to redirect.  In this case, just tell them they can't
get there from here and re-direct to a location in the new site that may
allow them to locate the information they need.

HTH,

Norman
www.craftedsolutions.com

> At work, we redesign/change our sites fairly frequently. Logically
> speaking, it would make a lot of sense for us to rearrange the directory
> structure. However, we are in the education field and what we often end up
> doing is leaving many of the same file/directory names because we're
afraid
> that people have indicidual pages bookmarked and we don't want to tick
> off/annoy our audience. It's frustrating because we either end up with a
> LOT of 'kruft' on our site (old pages or lot's of redirects). Mind you, we
> have absolutely NO evidence that people are bookmarking ANYTHING on our
> site, let alone specific pages. We do, however, have many links throughout
> our site and we don't want to break those in the process.
>
> I want to be able to come up with an argument that we don't have to
> do this. That if we redesign our sites, I want to say it's "ok" to
> restructure it, too. Sometimes, it doesn't matter. But, sometimes it just
> makes a lot of sense.
>
> I wa curious what you folks think of this sort of thing and how you
> deal with/rationalize this sort of thing.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Michael

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