Which homepage?

[jxm28788]

Currently actinic seems to have two 'home pages' - the brochure page, and the catalog root.

But I just need one home page - I don't really care if it's the brochure on or the catalog root, as long as all the relevant links point to it.

The problem is that if I try to use the brochure home page then the "top level parent" link (found in the breadcrumb trail) points to the catalog root rather than the home page.

So I've tried setting the catalog root as the homepage (unticking 'use this as homepage' on the brochure page and renaming it). But when I press the home button it still goes to the renamed brochure home page...

So how can I set up just one single page that will be used as the homepage (and also the top level parent)?

[AndyBorrett]

I seem to remember that you need to have some content on the page before it will become the home Page. Try adding a fragment and see what happens.

[jxm28788]

The problem isn't that the homepage isn't appearing, it's that there are two 'home' pages in the default actinic site and I just want to know how to configure it so there is only one.

ie. So that when the customer wants to go to the 'top' of the page they get sent to the same one now matter what they clicked to get there...

[Duncan Rounding]

You could have a 301 from the root to the acatalog folder in your htaccess file.

[leehack]

Untick the brochure page to set not to be used as home page and set your home page location in design > options. Update your htaccess to auto take anyone from site home to shop home also.

Redirect 301 /index.html http://www.mysite.com/acatalog/index.html

IMO what you are proposing is a bad idea, there are two home pages for a reason and you should have two and they should do different tasks.

[RoofingWarehous]

Untick the brochure page to set not to be used as home page and set your home page location in design > options. Update your htaccess to auto take anyone from site home to shop home also.

Redirect 301 /index.html http://www.mysite.com/acatalog/index.html

IMO what you are proposing is a bad idea, there are two home pages for a reason and you should have two and they should do different tasks.

Wouldnt 2 home pages mark up as duplicate content?

You need to edit your htaccess file, this is what im learning to do atm as you will have different pages (all duplicate) for the following;

www.yoursite.com
www.yoursite.com/index
yoursite.com

So i believe.

Also, i believe URL's are case sensitive in actinic. You will want to adjust it so it doesnt matter if someone uses upper or lower case.

If anyone has info on how to edit htaccess files, pass it on!

[Duncan Rounding]

Duplicate content is just that 'content' - nothing to do with page naming - unless you use the same text on the pages. The root 'homepage' and the catalog 'homepage' should have different content - one introducing the site with information the other with an overview of the store sections and products.

You can redirect your root domain to the acatalog folder if you wish using htaccess - there's lots of posts on the forum on how to do that and around the internet. You can also redirect all forms of your domain as well such mydomain.co.uk and www.mydomain.co.uk if not already managed by your hosting.

Thee is an order of preference on a lynus server when it looks for a file in a directory if the destination is not specifically specified. index.html is the usual default but normally any mix of case will be fine as well. default.html will also work in most curcumstances too as will .htm or .html etc etc.

All sites with directory structures need an index file or some default file in the directory for both landing and security.

[RoofingWarehous]

Duplicate content is just that 'content' - nothing to do with page naming - unless you use the same text on the pages. The root 'homepage' and the catalog 'homepage' should have different content - one introducing the site with information the other with an overview of the store sections and products.

You can redirect your root domain to the acatalog folder if you wish using htaccess - there's lots of posts on the forum on how to do that and around the internet. You can also redirect all forms of your domain as well such mydomain.co.uk and www.mydomain.co.uk if not already managed by your hosting.

Thee is an order of preference on a lynus server when it looks for a file in a directory if the destination is not specifically specified. index.html is the usual default but normally any mix of case will be fine as well. default.html will also work in most curcumstances too as will .htm or .html etc etc.

All sites with directory structures need an index file or some default file in the directory for both landing and security.

So wouldnt Google see "mydomain.co.uk" and www.mydomain.co.uk" and "www.mydomain.co.uk/index" as duplicate content, seeing as its all seperate pages with the same content?

Would this be the solution;

To redirect http://mysite.com to http://www.mysite.com:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.mynewwebsite\.com$ [NC]

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.mynewwebsite.com/$1 [L,R=301]

My Gspider stats:

Main URL: http://www.roofingwarehouse.co.uk/  (Case sensitive)

URLs with duplicate content (identical pages):
http://www.roofingwarehouse.co.uk/roofing/   (Flat Roofing Supplies - Firestone EPDM RubberCover Stockist)
http://www.roofingwarehouse.co.uk/roofing/index.html   (Flat Roofing Supplies - Firestone EPDM RubberCover Stockist)

http://www.roofingwarehouse.co.uk/   (Flat Roofing Supplies | EPDM Rubber Roofing Sheets | UK Next Day Delivery)
http://www.roofingwarehouse.co.uk/index.html   (Flat Roofing Supplies | EPDM Rubber Roofing Sheets | UK Next Day Delivery)
http://www.roofingwarehouse.co.uk/roofing/../index.html   (Flat Roofing Supplies | EPDM Rubber Roofing Sheets | UK Next Day Delivery)



End of data.

[Duncan Rounding]

What you mention needs to be resolved using 301s but I was referring to the root homepage and the catalog homepage.
These two pages: www.mydomain.co.uk/index.html and www.mydomain.co.uk/acatalog/index.html would not normally have the same content anyway.

[RoofingWarehous]

What you mention needs to be resolved using 301s but I was referring to the root homepage and the catalog homepage.
These two pages: www.mydomain.co.uk/index.html and www.mydomain.co.uk/acatalog/index.html would not normally have the same content anyway.

Yea i hear what your saying, but you also have

www.mydomain.co.uk/acatalog aswell as www.mydomain.co.uk/acatalog/index

Again, another 2 pages that are seperate and seen as duplaicates, am i wrong? This is what im trying to work out.

If i 301 the /index page to the /acatlog for example, will that stop google seeing any dupliacates?

Sorry if im wrong or confusing.

[Duncan Rounding]

This 'www.mydomain.co.uk/acatalog' is not a page it's a directory - this 'www.mydomain.co.uk/acatalog/index.html' is a page.

When you go to the directory you are served the default page which in this case is index.html.

[pinbrook]

www.mydomain.co.uk/acatalog aswell as www.mydomain.co.uk/acatalog/index

Again, another 2 pages that are seperate and seen as duplaicates, am i wrong?

the above are just one physical page thus no issues re duplicate content. Technically www.mydomain.co.uk/acatalog/index isnt a valid url.

Indeed you are getting confused

Lets get the www and non www urls out of the way to start with - fix this by going to Google webmaster (and bing/yahoo etc) and tell google to index www pages only. Then do not ever use the url without the www.

Now you are left with

www.mydomain.co.uk and www.mydomain.co.uk/index.html - they are the same page, thus only ever use on or the other in order to maintain the quality of backlink

the same goes for www.mydomain.co.uk/acatalog and www.mydomain.co.uk/acatalog/index.html

Do not use www.mydomain.co.uk/index - this is simply an incorrectly formatted url.

Its worth noting the worst than can happen if you have pages marked as duplicate content is one will be listed and the others dropped.

[RoofingWarehous]

the above are just one physical page thus no issues re duplicate content. Technically www.mydomain.co.uk/acatalog/index isnt a valid url.

Indeed you are getting confused

Lets get the www and non www urls out of the way to start with - fix this by going to Google webmaster (and bing/yahoo etc) and tell google to index www pages only. Then do not ever use the url without the www.

Now you are left with

www.mydomain.co.uk and www.mydomain.co.uk/index.html - they are the same page, thus only ever use on or the other in order to maintain the quality of backlink

the same goes for www.mydomain.co.uk/acatalog and www.mydomain.co.uk/acatalog/index.html

Do not use www.mydomain.co.uk/index - this is simply an incorrectly formatted url.

Its worth noting the worst than can happen if you have pages marked as duplicate content is one will be listed and the others dropped.

This is what i was getting at, ignore the acatalog stuff, but the www.domain.co.uk & www.domain.co.uk/index is what i was curious about, as it seems they are actually seperate pages on the server? Should i edit my htaccess so that the /index pages gets sent to the www.domain.co.uk. Obviously i dont want my site being seen as having duplicate content.

[Duncan Rounding]

...the www.domain.co.uk & www.domain.co.uk/index is what i was curious about, as it seems they are actually seperate pages on the server?....

As Jo mentioned www.domain.co.uk/index is an incorrectly formatted URL, not a page nor a directory. www.domain.co.uk/index.html is the page, www.domain.co.uk/ is the root directory.