htaccess URL rewrite with $_get function usage - php

Question

I have been trying to do a htaccess URL rewrite (R=302) for a website which uses a $_get function to pull the content pages by use of strings. For instance, I am trying to change the following:
http://www.site.com/index.php?page=about
Into this:
http://www.site.com/about/
However, I have managed to get it set up to the point where it will redirect the header and footer data within the index.php file if I use query the second URL, but it will not grab the CSS or the $_get information for the content. Here are the htaccess entries and the $_get information:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^(.*?)/$ /index.php?page=$1 [NC,QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(.*?)/$ $1.html [NC,L,QSA,R=302]
<?php
$folder = '';
$ext = 'html';
if (!$_GET['page'] || strpos($_GET['page'], '/') === true)
$path = 'home.' . $ext;
else $path = $_GET['page'] . '.' . $ext;
if (!file_exists($path)) {
$messages = array(
'404: Page does not exist; Please check the URL you entered.',
'404: Error 404, please check the URL of the page.'
);
print $messages[ rand(0, (count($messages) - 1)) ];
}
elseif (!#include($path)) print '300: couldn\'t get the page';
?>
Any help would be appreciated. I have been trying to modify the php code unsuccessfully thinking that is the issue.

Answer 1

First off, your two rewrite rules have the same condition, so only the first one will ever be met. I think you probably only want to rewrite if the requested uri doesn't exist on the server.
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*?)/?$ /index.php?x=$1 [L]