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#3562 – Root categories are not showing up in URLs

Posted in ‘sh404SEF’
This is a public ticket. Everybody will be able to see its contents. Do not include usernames, passwords or any other sensitive information.
Wednesday, 26 April 2017 03:11 UTC
sdbritton
 Hi!

I have installed sh404SEF on my site at www.xxxx.com and for some reason, only the subcategories are showing up. I was hoping to get the full URL.

For example, when you visit "Book Reviews > Classic Evolutionary Texts > Mind and Nature: Gregory Bateson" I get the URL below
http://www.xxxx.com/classic-evolutionary-texts/mind-and-nature-gregory-bateson

But I would like to get book-reviews/classic-revolutionary-texts/mind-and-nature-gregory-bateson like the URL below
http://www.xxxx.com/book-reviews/classic-evolutionary-texts/mind-and-nature-gregory-bateson

I know I could go through all the URLs and manually add "book-reviews" in the URL re-write section (Like I did for the first three Book Reviews on the list) but this would take a long time and I would have to do it every time I added an article.

I checked the backend and there does not seem to be a way to include the root category. Am I missing something?

If you like, I have set up an account for you on the site. Log in details below.
U: xxxx
P: xxxx

Thanks again for your help.

- - Steve
Wednesday, 26 April 2017 08:13 UTC
wb_weeblr
Hi

and for some reason, only the subcategories are showing up
Do you actually mean categories, or just menu items?

sh404SEF never uses menu items structure to build URLs. We build URLs based on an item title/alias, and the categoriy(ies) it belongs to (not the menu link, the actual categories).

If your article "Mind and Nature: Gregory Bateson" really belongs to the nested categories, book-reviews -> classic-evolutionary-texts, then you can decide on how many categories to include in URLs by using the settings in the Extensions->Joomla tab of sh404SEF configuration. Remember to Purge URLs after changing any of those settings, so that new URLs can be created.

If the article does not belong to actual nested categories, but you only meant by categories "nested menus", then that's not something we will handle. We do not structure URLs based on navigation because this is what causes so much duplicate content issues in Joomla.

Please confirm which case is yours.

Rgds
 
Wednesday, 26 April 2017 18:10 UTC
sdbritton
Hummmm. Sorry if I sound stupid, but I cannot find the area where I can set the category levels. Like I need to set it to three or four levels. And yes, I am trying to show nested Categories, NOT menu items.

Could you please show me where I can find this setting? I have attached a screenshot to show the configuration area. I am sure this is right under my nose, but I cannot find it.

All best,

Steve
Wednesday, 26 April 2017 18:38 UTC
wb_weeblr
Hi

I suggested you go to the Extensions tab, which is indeed on your screenshot, and then the Joomla sub-tab that will appear.

Rgds
 
Wednesday, 26 April 2017 19:47 UTC
sdbritton

Great! Your last message helped me figure it out. Thank you!

Now, I checked the Extensions > Joomla tab and I have selected all the "Show All Categories" options as shown in the attached screenshot and I am still not getting the results that I would like.

I would like to have the same URLs as shown in the breadcrumbs as shown in the second screenshot. I am starting to think that this might not be possible in Joomla. I want to show the category names and article titles.

Do you think this is possible or should I give up and hire someone to manually write the URLs using the Aliases feature?

And thank you for all your time so far.

All best,

Steve
Wednesday, 26 April 2017 19:58 UTC
wb_weeblr
Hi

1 - Have you purged your URLs from the URL manager after changing those settings? URLs need to be deleted, so that new ones can be created according to the new settings.

2 - I am getting a bit confused now.I understand what you want to have and that's very easy to do. But I am wondering if you actually put your content in nested categories. Maybe it's only that you did not purge URls, but you do understand that the URLs created with sh404SEF will reflect the actual categories you used to enter your articles, right?

Rgds
 
Wednesday, 26 April 2017 20:31 UTC
sdbritton

No, I haven't purged the URLs yet.

That could be it. The message scares me - see screenshot.

But I have made a backup of the site in Akeeba so if anything does go wrong, I could reinstall the site.

Is this the right button?

Thanks for you help and patience.

All best,

Steve
Thursday, 27 April 2017 08:48 UTC
wb_weeblr
Hi

No, I haven't purged the URLs yet.
Well then everything is as expected. Changes you make to sh404SEF settings (at least those related to URL structure) have strictly no effects on existing URLs. Urls are stored in the databse, for speed, and are not updated as long as we have a valid SEF in the database for a given URL created by Joomla.

By deleting existing URLs, you allow new ones to be created in accordance with your changed settings (ie include more categories).

But I have made a backup of the site in Akeeba so if anything does go wrong, I could reinstall the site.
Wow, no, you don't need anything like that. Purging URls is done regularly during the development phase of a site, when you need to adjust settings to your liking. There is nothing special about it, it's just as if you were deleting some obsolete articles or other Joomla content that you don't need anymore.

Once you purge URLs, you need to go to your site front page, so that all URLs on that page are rebuilt (URLs are rebuilt when Joomla asks us to do so, to be displayed on a page).

Rgds

 
Thursday, 27 April 2017 13:25 UTC
sdbritton

AWESOME! You are the man!!!

After the purge, everything is now working as it should. This is great.

Feel free to close the ticket and if you ever make it to New York City, I would love to buy you a beer and dinner.

Thanks so much!

- - Steve
Thursday, 27 April 2017 14:57 UTC
wb_weeblr
Hi

Ah, glad to hear that! and thanks very much for the invitation :) That's not something we have scheduled right now, but we were there before, and will be again at some point ;)

Closing this ticket now, feel free to open a new one as needed. If you do so, please mention this ticket number in the new one.

If you created any superadmin account for us, be sure to delete or block it now to avoid unnecessary risk in the future.

Be sure to also check out wbAMP, our new Accelerated Mobiles pages plugin for Joomla - the next big thing is SEO, direct from Google themselves!

Rgds
 
Friday, 12 May 2017 05:34 UTC
system
This ticket has been automatically closed. All tickets which have been inactive for a long time are automatically closed. If you believe that this ticket was closed in error, please contact us.
This ticket is closed, therefore read-only. You can no longer reply to it. If you need to provide more information, please open a new ticket and mention this ticket's number.