New Server
In January 2023, the web-based versions of FPNotebook moved to a new web server. This required several infrastructure changes to the website, which may result in initial problems for you, the website user:- The old homepage may be cached (stored in the browser history) including the search box links. Type in a search with the old version, and you will circle back to the home page. Most browsers, allow you to enter developer mode and clear the cache. In Google Chrome, press F12, then right click over the "refresh" button at the top left browser navigation bar (next to the URL window). Select "Empty cache and hard reload."
- I have created a page that fully describes how to clear the website data: https://fpnotebook.com/clearData.html
- Search now relies on the download of a compressed 400k json file. This file is used for both typeahead in the search box (autocomplete options) and full text search. The first time you perform a search there may be a longer delay due to the download. However, every subsequent search should be faster. Until you clear the cache (see above), this file may not load correctly.
- For those who use a search engine to get to pages within fpnotebook, these links will be broken until Google and other search engines re-index the fpnotebook.com website with their "bots". You will be re-routed to the main page of fpnotebook. If this occurs, simply use the search box on fpnotebook. Again, clear the cache in your browser (see above), and you should have both auto-complete and search functionality within the site. I expected that Google would re-index the site more quickly, but as of 1/24/2023, users are still having trouble with Google searches. I resubmitted for indexing on 1/24/2023 and I am hopeful the search engines will re-index the website soon.
- The mobile site is now hosted at https://mobile.fpnotebook.com (had been at fpnotebook.com/mobile). Users are automatically re-routed to the mobile version when browsing on a mobile device. You can also bookmark https://mobile.fpnotebook.com on your mobile device.
- The new server has case sensitive file names. This means that (https://fpnotebook.com/Ortho/Sx/ShldrPn.htm) will link to a correct page, but the same URL (https://fpnotebook.com/ortho/sx/ShldrPn.htm) with different casing will fail, and will return you to the fpnotebook.com home page. You will see this on Google searches until the site is re-indexed by their "bots". If you land on the home page, just use the search box.
- The case sensitive filename issue may break some of the image links. I have been using case insensitive filenames for 20 years. Keep a look out for these errors and let me know when you find them.
- Please let me know as you come across errors.
But Why Change Servers?
I have published the website for nearly 25 years and have had to switch servers periodically. For more than a decade the website was hosted with Rackspace, and I was very appreciative of their excellent infrastructure and support (their fanatical support mantra held true for many years). However, in the last few years, their quality has dropped (as often seems to happen with private equity takeovers), and server hosting costs have doubled, now approaching $1000 per month. At the same time, advertising revenue, which previously supported the site, has dropped and no longer offers much financial support. The IOS and Android apps support my work and the website costs. I am committed to maintaining fpnotebook as a free website. Moving the site from dedicated servers to Azure allowed for substantial cost savings.
The downsides are related to changing web hosting from a dedicated server to the cloud, and most of those obstacles have been overcome. The rough patches now, especially with the search engine site indexing, should resolve by early February. At the same time, at the home office, I have been migrating the site generation tools to newer systems. As always I am focused on constantly updating content while maintaining my full time ED shifts. Other site features, including a new contact page, search page functionality, drug information including drug pricing info updates are planned for this year, once this migration stabilizes.
Contact
Contact information is available on every page of the website, and may be found here. The contact page will be re-worked but for now, you will be directly emailing me. As always, let me know as you come across errors. I care very much about maintaining both site content and functionality, so I may continue to help both you and I practice the best medicine possible. Please let me know where this can be improved.