It was by chance that I stumbled on OpenDNS this week while trying to find a tutorial to configure the Apache HTTP server running on my machine publicly accessible via a dynamic DNS provider (as it turns out, port forwarding on your router is the key! Well, one of them...).

So anyway, OpenDNS - here's their marketing blurb:

OpenDNS makes the Internet experience safer, faster and smarter for you and everyone using your network. It's free and takes only 2 minutes to get started, with no software to install.

And a more technical explanation via Wikipedia:

OpenDNS offers DNS resolution for consumers and businesses as an alternative to using their Internet service provider's DNS servers. By placing company servers in strategic locations and employing a large cache of the domain names, OpenDNS usually processes queries much more quickly, thereby increasing page retrieval speed.

Other features include a phishing filter, domain blocking and typo correction (for example, typing wikipedia.og instead of wikipedia.org). By collecting a list of malicious sites, OpenDNS blocks access to these sites when a user tries to access them through their service. OpenDNS recently launched Phishtank, where users around the world can submit and review suspected phishing sites.

And here's a great introduction to the service and how to get it working:
What is OpenDNS and Why You Absolutely Need It ?

Once you're up and running, or you think you are, you can take the tests to verify that your configuration is correct. Signing up for an account is optional, but it lets you manage content filtering, stats, and a whole suite of other features. And it's free! There's also an active community.

You could use OpenDNS without an account, but it'd be like having a Porsche stuck in first gear.

Unfortunately I can't benefit from these extra features because of my ISP's proxy server, but my original problem is no more, so I'm stoked!

# redirect domain.co.za
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^domain\.co.za$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://coda.co.za/$1 [R=301,L]

What bugs me is that I have to add these lines for each domain name, and then again for instances when the "www" subdomain prefix is included (I prefer to remove the "www"). Needless to say my .htaccess file is looking mighty bloated these days.

I've hunted around for a more elegant solution with no luck, so here's my question for all the Apache and Regex geeks out there: is there a way to list these domains in a Rewrite condition (as an array of sorts) that will also cover the "www" inclusion/exclusion? So something like this:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(domain1.co.za|domain2.com)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://coda.co.za/$1 [R=301,L]

The end result I'm hoping for is that "domain1.co.za", "www.domain1.co.za", "domain2.com", "www.domain2.com", etc. will all redirect to "/". Supposing my pipe-delimited array idea isn't possible, what is the most practical way to achieve this?

Then again, their Site Specs/Browser Policy page still suggests that their visitors upgrade to the latest version of Netscape.

UPDATE: Thank God I don't bank with NBS!

Have added a little feature to this site called Google Hilite, thanks to Dean @ Textism. His explanation reads:

When applied to a page arrived at via Google, this function will highlight the terms used for the Google search wherever they appear.

Neat little touch, the things I love most. I am however experiencing some problems with it, particularly when visiting one of my archive permalinks. But I'll wait to see what happens with the SQL issue before I try resolve anything. Follow one of my Google referers to see it in action.

Otherwise, still waiting for my new digicam... and the days just keep getting longer.