robots.txt Rerouting on Development Servers
Every website should have a robots.txt file. Some bots hit sites so often that they slow down performance, other bots simply aren't desirable. robots.txt files can also be used to communicate sitemap location and limit request rate. It's important that the correct robots.txt file is served on development servers though, and that file is usually much different than your production robots.txt file. Here's a quick .htaccess snippet you can use to make that happen:
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} devdomain
RewriteRule ^robots.txt$ robots-go-away.txt [L]
The robots-go-away.txt file most likely directs robots not to index anything, unless you want your dev server to be indexed for some reason (hint: you really don't want this).
![Page Visibility API]()
One event that's always been lacking within the document is a signal for when the user is looking at a given tab, or another tab. When does the user switch off our site to look at something else? When do they come back?
![5 Awesome New Mozilla Technologies You’ve Never Heard Of]()
My trip to Mozilla Summit 2013 was incredible. I've spent so much time focusing on my project that I had lost sight of all of the great work Mozillians were putting out. MozSummit provided the perfect reminder of how brilliant my colleagues are and how much...
![Image Reflection with jQuery and MooTools]()
One subtle detail that can make a big difference on any web design is the use of image reflections. Using them too often can become obnoxious but using reflections on large, "masthead" images is a classy enhancement. Unfortunately creating image reflections within your...
![Scrolling “Go To Top” Link Using Dojo]()
One of the most popular code snippets of posted on my blog has been the scrolling "Go To Top" link snippet. The premise of the snippet is simple: once the user scrolls an element (usually the BODY element) past a given threshold, a "Go...
Here’s an example showing how to include multiple development domains:
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^localhost [OR] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.dev [OR] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^test.example.com [OR] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^staging.example.com RewriteRule ^robots.txt$ robots-disallow.txt [L]use vagrant