Friendly URLs
The Friendly URLs tool is a tool used to generate friendly URLs, e.g. 'www.yourwebsite.com/shop' instead of the system-default 'www.yourwebsite.com/default.aspx?ID=221'. In this article we will go through the options you have when using this tool.
Please note that, in contrast with DW9, when generating URLs for Ecommerce content like products and product groups you should use a URL provider on the page under which this content is shown.
URL Settings
The URL Settings section is used to activate and configure friendly URLs for content and a setting for the page paths in the URL:
| Setting | Use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| URL type | Choose between Paths and Querystring based URLs | Switch between using friendly URLs in the solution or use the raw querystring parameters |
| Redirect non-friendly URLs | If checked the solution makes a '301 permanent redirect' for e.g. /Default.aspx?ID=123 to /home | When a URL that is not friendly is used, the friendly version will be resolved and the user will be redirected |
| Place all pages in root | If checked the solution uses /page and /sub-page instead of /page and /page/sub-page | Will place all page paths as if they where placed in the root of the content tree |
URL grouping and naming
The URL grouping and naming section contains settings for tweaking the behaviour of the URLs when grouping and naming when e.g having multiple language layers:
| Setting | Use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Language layer | Choose between Do not use root names, Use region ISO code and Use website name | Defines how the name of the website or language is part of the URL root |
| Create unique URL structure for each website | If checked it will allow two or more websites to have the same URL, /home and /home on different hostnames | Mostly makes sense if language layer is not part of URL (i.e. /en-gb/home) |
| Group unique URL structure by master website | If checked language layers are included into the same URL index as the master website | Use when a master website have languages that share hostname and language name or ISO code is part of URL. Should be combined with a language layer setting and unique URL setting |
URL normalization
The URL normalization settings are used for defining how characters in the URL behaves:
| Setting | Use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Normalize latin characters | If checked normalization of non-standard latin characters is activated | Replaces non ascii characters in URLs with ascii characters |
| Custom normalization mappings | Set up a list of custom character mappings to overwrite how characters are normalized | Format is ã:a;ô:o, so ã is replaced with a and ô with o. Separate multiple mappings with ; |
Content
The Content settings is related to the behaviour of URLs in content:
| Setting | Use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Replace internal links in content with friendly URL | If checked markup is parsed and internal links is changed to friendly version | Replaces all instances of /Default.aspx?ID=123 with /page-name |
| Canonical link in meta | If checked canonical meta data for regular pages is added. Will add <link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/page/sub-page" /> to header |
Requires Model.MetaTags in template |
Ecommerce
The Ecommerce settings tweak how URLs for Ecommerce content are generated and work:
| Setting | Use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Canonical link in meta | Adds to header to the primary group or product URL. Requires Model.MetaTags in template | If products belong to 2 or more groups, it can have multiple URLs. Using this setting will add canonical to the primary URL |
| Return '404 not found' for products not in valid group | If checked it will not allow products to be shown in a group where the product does not belong | |
| Return '404 not found' for products not in website shop | If checked it will not allow products to be shown on websites where the product does not belong to the website shop | |
| Return '404 not found' for products not in website language | If checked a 404 is returned if products in other languages than the current website language is accessed |
Ecommerce - High volume product URLs
The Ecommerce - High volume product URLs settings are relevant for solutions with high volume URLs:
| Setting | Use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Enable high volume product URL | If a solution have many products, high volume URLs make the site startup much faster. Enabling will resolve product URLs dynamically using product ID or number | Enable for sites with more than 10.000 products. Product URLs have to be disabled on page properties (set to 'Group') |
| Product URL pattern | Choose between Use product id and variant id, Use product number for masters and product/variant id for variants and Use product number is specified | Defines how the high volume URLs should be formatted using either the product number or IDs or a combination |