Using mod_rewrite to optimize URLs

[omniuni]

Hi,

I have some websites running at http://jerrysartaramastores.com/ and would like to use mod_rewrite to simplify the URLs.

I set up a demo site to play with.

Right now, for example, I would use:
http://demo09.jerrysartaramastores.com/?page=contact
and I want to use:
http://demo09.jerrysartaramastores.com/contact

I created a .htaccess, and gave it the following content:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^/([^/\.]+)/?$ index.php?page=$1 [L]

I simply get a 404.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks in advance.

[Colin]

Following is based on mambo's rewrite rule for making SEO url's:
[code]
RewriteEngine On

# Uncomment following line if your webserver's URL
# is not directly related to physical file paths.
# Update YourMamboDirectory (just / for root)

# RewriteBase /YourMamboDirectory

#
# Rules
#

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^content/(.*) index3.php
RewriteRule ^component/(.*) index3.php
RewriteRule ^mos/(.*) index3.php
[/code]

[omniuni]

Um, thanks, but I don't think that really helps me much. All I want to do is grab whatever is after the "/", like "xyz" and append it to "?page=" so that "?page=xyz".

[omniuni]

WHB is awesome.

As per their help:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^/([^/\.]+)/?$ index.php?page=$1 [L]