By doctorpaul on

I wanted clean urls but the clean url test I ran says it can't be done. I'm new so when I look at http://drupal.org/node/15365 I think 'God - I can't handle all that - maybe things are just fine with the ?q= after all.

QUESTION ONE
I read that search engines don't pick up the 'dirty' urls as well
But then I read that's nonsense
So what's the truth?

QUESTION TWO
I also read somewhere on drupal org that having the ?q= in your url is a giveaway to hackers who can then more easily hack your site because they know its a Drupal site.
Really?
What are the actual chances of getting hacked?
Has anyone here been hacked?
What happens when you do?
Does a hacker knowing you have a Drupal site really make it easier for them to kill your website and your livelihood?

Would love to hear your views and experience

Cheers

Dr Paul

⋅ Categories: Drupal 5.x

Comments

Fintan’s picture

Fintan commented

Answer 1
This is completely wrong, google can easily handle default drupal urls, there are instances where having operators in your urls can cause issues but this will only happen if your break the drupal way of handling urls.

Answer 2
This is even more wrong, what you read was probably referencing sql injection issues that happen code is not properly implemented, this is not the case with Drupal, I would say that a hacker knowing your using Drupal would put them off as the Drupal community is known for being fantastic in terms of responding to security issues. Obviously you need to keep up to date with patchs the same way you do with any piece of software.

HOWEVER:

Google et al love clean urls so I would suggest that you enable clean urls if you want rank well, not essential but really helps.

mrintegrity’s picture

mrintegrity commented

It's important to set up clean URL's for the simple reason that they look much much better. And after all, thats why your using Drupal and not just a 40 line thing you threw together in notepad isn't it? :) It's really not that hard to set up providing you have the prerequisites configured properly!

doctorpaul’s picture

doctorpaul commented

thank you both for your answers.

It seems that it's worth doing - but its not going to kill me if I don't.

So - next question is can anyone recommend th EASIEST way to enable clean urls? The Drupal Org node I liked to above is, frankly, NIGHTMARISHLY CONFUSING (for me). Like so many instructions on here it seems to start off with one tihng and then goes off into various options...

Also - if I ignore the task, concentrate on getting this great material together and a great site launched... and instead I get round to it later... will the site "catch-up" so to speak, or is it a case of "now or never"?

thanks

Paul

Fintan’s picture

Fintan commented

need more info about your hosting setup before I can help with clean urls.

Generally its a case of first impressions count so its better to start with clean urls but not a major problem if you change them later, just make sure you install the global redirect module.