5 replies to this topic

[bobmeetin]

Every now and then we have the need to do some major website reorganization. With HTML sites you move a page or link to below a different menu - no problem, the URL name doesn't change, just the access point.

But commonly with dynamic websites you can't stand behind diplomatic immunity. You move a link from dropdown menu item #3 to another location and the menu ID changes. In this example search engine friendly or user friendly URLs is not enabled. Example:

ID = the page or article ID
Itemid = the menu ID

CODE

index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=136&Itemid=[b]298[/b]

Move it to under another menu and you end up with:

CODE

index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=136&Itemid=[b]320[/b]

And the concern develops. When the search engine indexed the page originally I assume that all the juice is attached to the page with ID 136 and Itemid 298. But now although the content has not changed it is now living as Itemid 320.

The idea of setting up a 301 redirect comes to mind but I'm wondering if there is a better solution. This can make for a long .htaccess file. Over???

[chrishirst]

Was the CMS written by somebody with a sense of humour?? Why would anybody in their right mind change the URI simply because the menu order changed??


Although with "com_content" in the URI I'm taking a stab at Joomla (or it's forerunner Mambo). In which case they definitely had a sense of humour with some of the strange things it does!!!!

[bobmeetin]

Yadda yadda - yes to Joomla. The bottom line, however, is there an out?

Installing sh404SEF or similar may be a future out in that I can craft the URL names probably more like static HTML button, but that doesn't really solve this problem.

[Randy]

This is one place I don't think I'd do it via .htaccess if you're talking more than a page or two. A page or two and .htaccess would be fine, but more than that and it starts to get silly and unworkable in a hurry.

Instead I'd tweak the code of index.php to actively look for one or both of the ID's that had been changed, setting this up in a little Case/Switch scenario, and do a scripted redirect when there's a positive match.

Easier, cleaner and faster.

[bobmeetin]

This is one place I don't think I'd do it via .htaccess if you're talking more than a page or two. A page or two and .htaccess would be fine, but more than that and it starts to get silly and unworkable in a hurry.

Instead I'd tweak the code of index.php to actively look for one or both of the ID's that had been changed, setting this up in a little Case/Switch scenario, and do a scripted redirect when there's a positive match.

Easier, cleaner and faster.

Much easier said than done. If you haven't work with Joomla/similar or even if you have, this is complicated because of the rather 'robust' framework. 10-15 URLs might take 15 minutes to a half hour to redirect using htaccess but many times more through hunt/peck with the application because of all the include file/functions that you would need to fend through. Bummer...

[Randy]

I haven't worked with Joomla in forever. But will it allow you to use a php include statement at the top of the main template? Probably not in the template that can be edited via your browser in the admin area. I'm thinking about in the real .php file itself.

If you can fire in one php include you could put the scripted redirect code there. The only caveat being that it'll have to be at the absolute top of the page. Otherwise html headers will have already been sent and throw an error.