Do you use the PathAuto module?
jason342 - October 3, 2006 - 23:37
Reading the info about the pathauto module it says the pathauto module still gets bug fixes, does that mean it has bugs and problems?
I like it to install it but first I want to know if this module is widely used by drupal users or is it something to avoid?
I'd like your opinion of this module please especially from those who got it installed and use it.
Thanks
It's usable for the most
It's usable for the most part for the uses I have put it to when using the "catpath" placeholder.
It would appear that there are indeed a lot of users reliant on it yes.
Default advice is to set up a test site, whack it in and test it around your site ambitions.
Also, check-out the issues (found on pathauto's module page) but you'll more than likely only find that useful after you've given it a test-drive.
Mike
No problems for me
I hadn't even looked at the bug reports.
Path_auto has been working fine on my site without any glitches.
- Alan Tutt
http://www.PowerKeysPub.com
So far so good
So far so good then,
TheWhippinpost - You said it's useful for 'most part if the uses’ you put it through, did you mean that you haven’t used it for other parts, or couldn't use it because it had problems?
And yes, I am testing it left and right and so far I like it, but I like to hear everybody’s opinion if there has been any problem.
I made this thread because the module itself gives some sort of warning about bug fixes, wanted approval of the module from the drupal community who’s used it.
TheWhippinpost - You said
No, I mean that I haven't had occassion to use all of its features to evaluate fully. For example, I've never used the placeholder, [menupath], so can't comment upon its usability.
The only real problem I've encountered is the one highlighted by guitarmiami (so far).
Mike
Pathauto
Pathauto is a great module that I use on every site.
The only problem that I've had with it is when trying to override pathauto with a custom path it sometimes makes two URL aliases. I'm not sure if it is conflicting with another module. It is not a critical problem and I haven't had time to look into it.
It's especially useful if you divide your content into sections and want Drupal to automatically generate URLs for different sections based on taxonomy, like this:
/news/world/article-title-goes-here
/news/sports/article-title-goes-here
/entertainment/movie-listings/movie-title
guitarmiami and
guitarmiami and TheWhippinpost – What do you exactly mean by "can’t override pathauto with a custom path", can you elaborate further please? As you both mentioned having this problem.
Thanks
Editing Content
When editing existing content, there is the option, under "URL path settings", to change the path to the page you are editing... don't work - It basically ignores it and uses the settings defined in Pathauto's setup page.
It's not a problem most of the time but it can get in the way when you're using the page title as an alias and you want a shorter version of that title to be used instead, for instance.
I've issued a bug report - If you find yourself similarly hindered by it, I'm sure fellow-sufferers would appreciate you adding your observations to it also - the more witnesses, the higher the chance it will get fixed.
Mike
Same problem here
That is the same problem I am having. It creates 2 URL aliases -- the long one, based on the title of the post, and the one that you manually enter. It defaults to the long one, so to use the shorter custom URL you have to go into URL aliases and delete one, and then also change the URL alias of the feed.
If you are redoing a site in Drupal and are trying to match file names (e.g., .html), then it will usually chop off the file extension, meaning that they also have to be manually added in the URL aliases admin.
Annoying bugs, but not critical problems. I still use Pathauto on every site and highly recommend it.
.html extension
Hello - just wanted to comment that you can use pathauto to add .html onto the end of your urls.
I use a path like this for blogs on one site:
blog/[user]/[title].html
The result is just as you would imagine :)
--
Growing Venture Solutions
Drupal Implementation and Support in Denver, CO
getting bugs fixed faster
More witnesses isn't really the best way to get it fixed faster.
The best way is to provide a very clear bug report (see the handbook for ideas on good bug reports) and then try to find the offending code, provide a patch, or test a patch. If one of those steps isn't possible for you now, just give it a try - there is plenty of help to get more contributors on board.
Greg
--
Growing Venture Solutions
Drupal Implementation and Support in Denver, CO
Pathauto is a great little
Pathauto is a great little module - a lot of bugs posted against modules are quite simple to fix if they require fixing at all. Many times it is something that is unique to that site which is why it's always good to evaluate modules on a test site.
Also, a lot of the issues posted in the issue tracker may be feature requests, when a module is popular, it gets lots of posts from all sorts of people.
Definately a handy module.
TheWhippinpost – I’m no
All I can achieve is for example is: /news/article-title-goes-here
Where there is News and Article title
How can I achieve /news/ world /article-title-goes-here
Where it is news, WORLD and article title
or
How can I achieve /news/world/country/article-title-goes-here
Where there is news, WORLD, COUNTRY and article title
Thanks
Taxonomy and Pathauto
Vocabulary & Terms:
News (vocab)- world
- country1
- country2
- country3
- local
- etc.
Pathauto:
I think you use something like this for default path pattern:
[vocab]/[catpath]/[title]
There is a cheatsheet on the admin page. It is highly customizable.
I hope you have also taken a
I hope you have also taken a look at some of the help pages for the module:
http://drupal.org/handbook/modules/pathauto
(Posted by guitarmiami)
All I can achieve is for example is: /news/article-title-goes-here
Where there is News and Article title
How can I achieve /news/ world /article-title-goes-here
Where it is news, WORLD and article title
or
How can I achieve /news/world/country/article-title-goes-here
Where there is news, WORLD, COUNTRY and article title
Thanks
Someone please answer that
From memory. Presumably you
From memory.
Presumably you have a taxonomy set-up to "contain" your terms (which I'll call categories from this point forward).
So, let's say you have a taxonomy called:
"News items"
... within which, a category named:
"News"
... then another called:
"World" with "News" as its parent
... and finally the same with "Country", using "World" as its parent, giving you a category hierarchy thus:
News
- World
-- Country
So, over to Admin > Settings > Pathauto:
Under "Node path settings" use:
[catpath]/title.htm
Under "Category path settings":
[catpath]/index.htm
And that should do it.
Mike
Thanks so much,
Thanks so much,
I understood all except the "[catpath]/index.htm" under "Category path settings",
There is no [index] option? Or do you mean I type in index.htm my self?
And secondly, jus how many vocabularies should I have?
I know is really upto me, but I ask this because you can pretty much do everything with just having one vocabulary and a whole bunch of terms, so how would having more than one vocabulary be an advantage?
I mean the advantage of having one vocabulary is that when you create a page your 'Page' is less complicated and more cleaner.
vocabs and stuff
could be a number of reasons, I for example am working on a site where each node type is assoicated with one vocabulary only
so when users post a news item for example they only have the option of placing it under the terms that relate to news items
likewise if posting a blog entry they can only place it in terms that relate to a blog entry.
Just makes it a simpler form to fill out for the un-educated where you have a site where users can post content of avrying types, they get one drop-down menu with only the terms that relate to the type of content they are submitting........just my 2 cents......I'm still getting the hang of taxonomy in general
and for to answer your original post also- I also use pauthauto, and have had no problems to date =) from memory I think there is an option near the top of the settings page to generate indexes for categories, not sure though!!
BuZZ the limey
drupal n00b!
- But the more vocabularies
- But the more vocabularies mean more boxes in the category when creating content for example, wouldn’t that be more of an overwhelming experience.
- What do you mean “generate indexes for categories”, what does it do exactly?
hmmm
nope because I only have one content type assigned to each category and each vocab is of type single so the user only ever sees one drop down list when posting a content type.
so i have a vocab story topics with the assigned content type story and then all the terms I want people to use for story nodes are stored under that vocab
likewise I then have a different vocab set up for each of the other content types that my 'users' are allowed to create content for.
I wish I knew....lol.....sorry I was trying to recall how it was listed in the path auto settings menu, but couldn't, I don't use the feature so can't give you a cear definition......thats why I'm a noob! sorry
BuZZ the limey
drupal n00b!
I'm sorry, I made a slight
I'm sorry, I made a slight error:
title.htm, should in fact be: [title].htm
And no, index.htm isn't a pathauto placeholder option, you can use anything there. I just don't like "open-ended" directory structures. A path should always end at a file for many reasons IMO.
Not sure I understand your second question fully but I think you should use as many as makes sense.
I like to think in terms of meaning and classification. So, an "Apples" vocab, might contain terms including, "Red apples", "Soft apples" etc...
Mike
index.htm
It is better never to link to index pages on a Web site. It's not good for search engines because it splits the importance of the page between / (slash -- the root of the directory), and another version url that includes the index page. Search engines see them as two different pages.
If it is a simple site, you can get away with one vocabulary. Your News section, or whatever. If you want more variety, you can break it into several vocabs:
News
- world
- country1
- country2
- local
Entertainment
- movies
- action
- drama
- comedy
- music
- classical
- rock
You can also split up vocabularies for different types of nodes. For example, maybe you offer blogs on your site and only want people to be able to free tag their posts. So make another vocabulary called "tags" only for blog nodes, and check the box that says "allow freetagging". That would allow bloggers on your site to tag posts without allowing them access to your other vocabularies for your articles.
You can include the vocab in the URL with [vocab]. You can include the full category path after that with [catpath]. To add the title, use [title]. To add the node ID number use [nid]. See the cheatsheet on the Pathauto settings page. I recommend something like:
[vocab]/[catpath]/[title]
or
[catpath]/[title]
guitarmiami – Thanks very
guitarmiami – Thanks very much I got it now!
TheWhippinpost – Thanks for clearing that up!
Buzz_the_limey - Sorry I didn’t really understood your last reply, but can I assume that you've installed/have the taxonomy_access module and use it to assign users to categories of your choosing in 'create content' page?
If yes, then I think I got it.
yup
sorry I didn't make myself clear, yes I'm using taxonomy_access.
BuZZ the limey
drupal n00b!
Search Engines
We'll have to differ on this.
To not denote a page is not good in terms of accessibility and/or usability and, I'd argue, for SE's too.
It seems that over time, for whatever reason, some webmasters have chosen to "flout", or shortcut, the way directories are resolved and symbolised. I confess that I'm assuming that nothing has changed in-between times but the expected behaviour of the way root, or directory was served was to throw-up either a file named index or default.
Index files serve a purpose and are semantic. They summarise the directory contents just as a book would use its equivalent index. There is great SE value in doing so as one can use it to deep-link to important content. It also serves as a navigational marker.
WRT Search Engines: They will "score" on what gets served. So the onus is really on the webmaster to ensure that links are consisent and any possible alternatives are 301'd to be safe.
I also don't like the trend that Drupal encourages in not including a file extension. As a user, I'm more re-assured by "knowing" what kind of file I'm clicking on.
Mike
linking to a page and seo and usability
Guys - simple solution:
[catpath].html
Then you get vocab/term/subterm.html
No need to worry about the index.html or confusing users by not including the .html
Regards,
Greg
--
Growing Venture Solutions
Drupal Implementation and Support in Denver, CO
Index files
It's not a shortcut. A slash ("/") is the standard symbol for a directory in unix. If you request example.com/, you are requesting the server to send you the default file of the / (root) directory. The directory index file could be anything: index.html, index.htm, index.php, homepage.py, or anything at all. The user shouldn't be expected to remember what the directory index filename is for each site.
Also, you cannot rely on external sites linking to your specific index pages. They will tend to leave off the index file. You could add 301 redirects to send all requests for directories ("/") to your desired index file type to get search engines to canonicalize your preferred URL, but it would not be consistent across the Web. Those kinds of inner workings of the site don't need to be exposed. Technology will progress -- different ways of serving the files will be created... the name of the index files will never be consistent, but the "/" (slash) will always symbolize the root of the directory.
That is the job of the "/" (slash) -- a symbol for directory. It is not http://www.example.com, it is http://www.example.com/ (note the trailing slash). The slash is part of the URL. Servers should correct you if you forget the slash.
I'm not sure what you mean about an index file being required for deep linking. You can deep link to directories by using the trailing slash (although the slash is not usually required).
Another problem with linking directly to index files is if you someday want to change the system that serves your Web pages. Maybe you built the site in HTML, but want to change it to ASP.NET, and then later to Ruby on Rails. The index.html file would hinder flexibility and create the need for workarounds. A "/" (slash) is consistent.
Just my thoughts on it.
Like I say, we'll have to
Like I say, we'll have to differ on this.
Mike