URLs

[Todd]

What kind of urls do you prefer for your shrines? Any reason? I've always linked mine like nightbringer.net/tidus/ but I think every other person would do tidus.nightbringer.net. lol Should I create subdomains?

[Crystal]

I think it all depends on personal preference really. Creating subdomains takes a little bit extra work but personally I like the look of it better so I always do it with my own sites. I just think it looks cooler.

[Larissa]

I use subdomains because I prefer the way the URL looks, but also because of the way I have my URLs set up.

If you've been to one of my sites, you may have noticed that the URLs aren't redcrown.net/section.php?page, they're redcrown.net/section/page. I do this through URL rewriting in my .htaccess file, and while it is possible to do them in folders, it is way easier to do it on a subdomain. So all of my sites are on subdomains, never redcrown.net/thing, aside from stuff like my contact page (since it's just a single page).

Fun fact: because of this, if you try to go to one of my sites as a folder instead of the subdomain... it won't work! None of my folder names match the subdomain name. For example, redcrown.net/squall is a 404 while squall.redcrown.net does, in fact, lead to my Squall site.

It's also easier to see visitor stats by site on my cPanel this way, since they're divided by subdomain, but that's just because of the stat thing I use.

ALL OF THAT SAID (and that was a lot of tl;dr I'm sorry): I think it is totally personal preference and I think both ways are perfectly fine. I think it depends on the domain, honestly; for some domains I think a folder looks better and for others I think a subdomain is better but it's really all subjective and down to preference. I have actual reason for using subdomains but I wouldn't be against using folders if that wasn't the case.

[Rems]

Generally, I prefer to use subdomains - not only does it flow better to me, it also makes it look more grand and more important, if that makes sense? Especially when I line it up next to all the various fanlistings I own, haha. Though I also make subdomains for FL subjects I'm fond of, to, so also it's to show my love for it, I suppose.

[neo]

I mostly prefer subdomains, but if it looks more pleasing to the eye, I would do http://skyblade.org/shrine

Lately, I have been making the path public_html/shrines/name of shrine but my subdomain would be http://nameofshrine.skyblade.org/ Just for organizational purposes, and if you have a lot of folders like I do/did >< it can get annoying. So maybe that may help you decide?

^___^

[Camy]

It's easier for me to make subdomains thanks to Dreamhost's setup. The other way requires me to log in with my FTP client and then create a new folder.

I'm just used to making subdomains, and seeing them, for other sites.

[dubiousdisc]

I used to want subdomains (I suppose because everyone else seemed to be using subdomains and like Espo pointed out it DOES feel "grander", haha), but my hosting would make me pay extra for each subdomain, so I went with folders. This limitation might have been for the best though, since I like how using folders the URL goes from biggest to smallest - it makes the most logical sense to me.

[Destinie]

I used to want subdomains (I suppose because everyone else seemed to be using subdomains and like Espo pointed out it DOES feel "grander", haha), but my hosting would make me pay extra for each subdomain, so I went with folders. This limitation might have been for the best though, since I like how using folders the URL goes from biggest to smallest - it makes the most logical sense to me.

Similar situation here: I used to want to do subdomains but I just default to folders. I kind of like it that way, though, to let me know that site is a part of the larger site. For example:

http://love-gala.org/shrine Where the shrine is part of the Love-gala collective

or

http://fans.nyarth.net/site where it is part of this collective.

It's also easier to do folders. xD

[nyxmidnight]

I'm sort of in between. My main fandoms get their own domains (devilchild.ca and nyxslounge.ca).

At the root, I place the big fansite: http://nyxslounge.ca

Multipages websites/fanlistings/shrines get their own subdomains: http://amala.nyxslounge.ca

One pagers get a folder, but on my one pager subdomain: http://onepage.nyxslounge.ca/dojima

I like to sort things It helps that I have unlimited domains/subdomains.

[Sarah]

I use subdomains for my shrines. It makes them seem more special, or as Espo said, more important. And since shrines are bigger sites (than say a clique or standalone FL) they deserve the little extra effort it takes to make a subdomain. (Having to log into cpanel to make a sub. whereas a folder I can just create in the FTP client.)

But that is just me, and there is no right or wrong way to do it. There may be certain factors that make one better than the other, like the example Larissa gave, but I think preference is the major factor.