IP.Board SEO/FURL

[Luke]

There is an easy way to check... Have IPB write an .htaccess file for mod_rewrite and test the URL for expected results. If it doesn't work, it isn't supported.

And then either way IPB would have to have permission to write to an .htaccess file.

Most mods have copyrights, yes. But only on their own modules. Adding it to every single IPB page is a huge turn off, especially when you're paying as much as you are.

[Bain]

I would be interested in IPB having this built inside.

I've actually tried talking vBulletin into developing this for their board software but they pretty much refuse.

IPB has been a place that innovates, so I am hoping this is another area that IPB is willing to take a chance on.

[bfarber]

There is an easy way to check... Have IPB write an .htaccess file for mod_rewrite and test the URL for expected results. If it doesn't work, it isn't supported.

And then either way IPB would have to have permission to write to an .htaccess file.

Most mods have copyrights, yes. But only on their own modules. Adding it to every single IPB page is a huge turn off, especially when you're paying as much as you are.

It's easier said than done. Some servers would require the "forums" directory to then have 777 permissions to write the .htaccess file dynamically, and then some servers won't execute php scripts with such open permissions. Then, trying to test the url for expected results isn't necessarily the easiest thing in the world either.

At the end of the day, practically anything is possible, but the friendly urls people would want would be a huge undertaking, and a nightmare to support. I really won't make any promises on it either way right now.

Regarding their copyright, you should really bring that up with them. :thumbsup: Was just giving you my view point on it. Since their mod does affect every page, then it's still the same in my eyes. It's no different than a skin that has a copyright, which most people are ok with.

I would be interested in IPB having this built inside.

I've actually tried talking vBulletin into developing this for their board software but they pretty much refuse.

IPB has been a place that innovates, so I am hoping this is another area that IPB is willing to take a chance on.

As stated above, I'll hold off making any promises either way.

[Bain]

How are the lo-fi skin urls created?

Would it be possible to add-on this type of url system into the normal IPB system versus the lo-fi?

[bfarber]

Yes, but, I really don't think it gives much benefit. Just having .html vs .php isn't any better or worse. I think the "seo" stuff comes from having proper keywords in the page name itself (i.e. "some-topic-title.html")

[kirov]

yes if you have something.html it doesn't help you very much, it just helps google to index your page more quickly but if the page has categorie_topic-name_title.html(that is an exemple) when somewhats searches a keyword it will apear in the search better

[Josh04]

You could do it the way drupal and MediaWiki (iirc) do it, which is to have the information all in one GET, separated by slashes, so you have index.php?q=showforum/2, and then if the server software is capable of it, this can be shortened to /showforum/2.

As for SEO on IPB, I downloaded FURL, took one look at the list of preg_replace's and decided against it. I ended up writing my own, with mod_rewrite converting them on the way in, and editing the IPB source files to change all the references. Understandably, this took ages :P It has weaknesses: It's hard to ensure uniform URLs, and I've had to add database columns so that all the links can have the topic title in them, but it works well enough. My links look like this: www.sitename.com/(Forum-Name)/forum/(forumid) or www.sitename.com/(Topic title)/topic/(topicid).

Regarding IPB3, I seem to remember mention of a hooks system. How extensive would this be? Being able to hook functions instead of editing them would be amazing.

[Luke]

The problem with using something like index.php/something/something.html is images get messed up in some places because in the HTML it's like "style_images/1/image.gif" which makes the browser assume that it's in "something/style_images/1/image.gif". I'm sure you could use another mod_rewrite to fix that, if you can, but then I don't think it cache's right. Only other solution is fix every instance to use the full URL... That's why the best way is just to use an html file separated by dashes :).

[Nils]

The problem with using something like index.php/something/something.html is images get messed up in some places because in the HTML it's like "style_images/1/image.gif" which makes the browser assume that it's in "something/style_images/1/image.gif". I'm sure you could use another mod_rewrite to fix that, if you can, but then I don't think it cache's right. Only other solution is fix every instance to use the full URL... That's why the best way is just to use an html file separated by dashes :).

I actually used to do this, too. My mod_rewrite rule to fix the images looked something like this:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^.+/((((style_(images|avatars|emoticons))|jscripts|cache|lofiversion)/.*)|favicon\.ico)$ /$1 [R=301,L]

[W1lz0r]

Or just set the image URL variable. That will fix up all image links without having to mod_rewrite.

[Nils]

Or just set the image URL variable. That will fix up all image links without having to mod_rewrite.

I thought so too, but at least on my forums some image links are not being rewritten. Also, I think the image URL only changes links to images, so things like the lofiversion, the favicon or the javascript files still need to be corrected.

[Josh04]

The problem with using something like index.php/something/something.html is images get messed up in some places because in the HTML it's like "style_images/1/image.gif" which makes the browser assume that it's in "something/style_images/1/image.gif". I'm sure you could use another mod_rewrite to fix that, if you can, but then I don't think it cache's right. Only other solution is fix every instance to use the full URL... That's why the best way is just to use an html file separated by dashes :).

Ah, now that's interesting to know. I haven't encountered that, because my images are hosted off-site. My mod_rewrite looks like this: (I use lighttpd)

    "^(.*)/topic/([0-9][0-9]*)/([0-9][0-9]*)/reply/?(.*)$" => "index.php?act=post&do=reply_post&f=$3&t=$2$4",
    "^(.*)/topic/([0-9][0-9]*)/([0-9][0-9]*)/?(.*)$" => "index.php?showtopic=$2&st=$3",
    "^(.*)/topic/([0-9][0-9]*)/getnewpost/?(.*)$" => "index.php?showtopic=$2&view=getnewpost$3",
    "^(.*)/topic/([0-9][0-9]*)/?(.*)$" => "index.php?showtopic=$2$3",
    "^(.*)/profiles/ucp/?(.*)$" => "index.php?act=UserCP&CODE=00$2",
    "^(.*)/profiles/([0-9]*)/?(.*)$" => "index.php?showuser=$2$3",
    "^(.*)/forum/([0-9][0-9]*)/newtopic/?(.*)$" => "index.php?act=Post&CODE=00&f=$2$3",
    "^(.*)/forum/([0-9][0-9]*)/?(.*)$" => "index.php?showforum=$2$3",
    "^/logout\.htm$" => "index.php?act=Login&CODE=03",
    "^/login\.htm$" => "index.php?act=Login&CODE=00",
    "^/register\.htm$" => "index.php?act=Reg&CODE=00",
    "^(.*)/stats/mods/?(.*)$" => "index.php?act=Stats&CODE=leaders$1",
    "^(.*)/stats/todays/?(.*)$" => "index.php?act=Stats$1",
    "^(.*)/stats/overall/?(.*)$" => "index.php?act=Members&max_results=10&sort_key=posts&sort_order=desc$1",
    "^(.*)/stats/topics/?(.*)$" => "index.php?act=search&CODE=getactive$2",
    "^(.*)/stats/members/?(.*)$" => "index.php?act=Members$2",
    "^(.*)/stats/online/(click|name)/?(.*)$" => "index.php?act=Online&CODE=listall&sort_order=asc&sort_key=$2$3",
    "^(.*)/stats/online/?(.*)$" => "index.php?act=Online&$2",
    "^(.*)/forum/(.*)$" => "index.php?act=idx$2",
    "^(.*)/forum/([0-9][0-9]*)/search/?(.*)$" => "index.php?act=Search&f=$2&$3",
    "^/search\.htm(.*)$" => "index.php?act=Search$1",
    "^/arcade\.htm(.*)$" => "index.php?autocom=arcade&$1",
    "^/index/(.*)$" => "index.php?autocom=drupal2&q=$1",
    "^/wiki/index\.php/(.*)" => "/wiki/index.php?title=$1",
    "^/wiki/index\.php\?title=(.*)" => "/wiki/index.php?title=$1",
    "^/wiki/(images|skins)/(.*)$" => "/wiki/$1/$2",
    "^/wiki/(.*)\.php(.*)$" => "/wiki/$1.php$2",
    "^/wiki/(.*)\?(.*)$" => "/wiki/index.php?title=$1&$2",
    "^/wiki/(.*)$" => "/wiki/index.php?title=$1"

[Luke]

Or just set the image URL variable. That will fix up all image links without having to mod_rewrite.

The image url variable is in the middle :)...

style_image/{var}/image.gif

Need to be able to add to the left side :)

[bfarber]

No, he means the image url you configure under General Settings. If you set that, a preg_replace is done in class_display that adds the url to the beginning of the style_images. :)

[Luke]

No, he means the image url you configure under General Settings. If you set that, a preg_replace is done in class_display that adds the url to the beginning of the style_images. :)

It isn't always fool proof though :P

[bfarber]

It is in my testing, but only for the images. It doesn't handle javascript or any of the other things, iirc (i.e. lofiversion).

[Luke]

So it isn't fool proof :P

[bfarber]

Yes, not fool proof. ;)

Though, for our purposes it's never really needed to be. However I myself have run into a couple times where I've needed it to do jscripts and since it doesn't I've had to recode it. I might change that in the future.

[Josh04]

I problem I had was that the Javascript files are all relative links. My URL's now have a fake folder structure in them, so I had to add full paths onto all the <script> tags.

[Luke]

I would much rather have the board url added to each image, css, and javascript path so there is no need for a rewrite. But the board url variable used would be specific so it could be changed to host images on a different server.

[joelle]

Does IPB SEO support IP.Gallery?

[Lindsey_]

No. There is a problem with it with 0.4.1

[yacenty]

IPG is very good supported by CSEO - if You want test - don't hesitate to look my site - agrofoto.pl

[bfarber]

Guys, we have no association with MinervaSEO or CommunitySEO - for questions about either product you should contact their respective authors. ;)

[WebbyB]

So the new SEO/FURL options for Invision v.3.0 - will it have the proper 301 redirects when converting to the SEFURL?

:)

:)