Acatalog - Changing name.

[Buzby]

I like the fact that we can now call the Acatalog folder anything that we wish, although this does its-self present some new problems.

With some good rankings for my site I obviously do not want to start a fresh and with over 4000 pages I do not really fancy the thought of doing all those redirects just for a folder change.

Does anyone know of an easier way to set up a redirect using the same page name but just changing the folder name?

I can see a (limited) market for a redirect feed to do the change and save as a .htacess. Any takers, Jan?

Kind regards

Jason

[Paul Bulpit]

I like the fact that we can now call the Acatalog folder anything that we wish

I concur - very useful for a new site, acatalog was (a) irrelevant/meaningless (except to those in the know) (b) cliched to those in the know, which made it useful if you wished to patronise fellow sufferers. I have wished for an alternative from the outset.

But what?

/shop/? /store/? /online/?

In a way, alternative offerings would be good to hear. Or should we all try to be unique?



.

[Stereo Steve]

Something like this?


RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^http://www.website.co.uk/acatalog
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.website.co.uk/store/$1 [R=301,L]

Dunno, no expert on these things. Might work.

[fergusw]

Try reading up on

301 redirects

These are commands that you put in a file called .htaccess (for unix/linux servers - NOT windows) that can manage how a browser accesses the website.
In this case Steve's instructions are a form of code to be placed in this .htaccess file.
Worth a quick google on .htaccess or 301 redirects

[Darren B]

Ohh there is a thread around here with the htacess things in it, plus some that go back a long time. I posted to it the other day, cant remember it though

there are some good sites explaining how to use it aswell

[BodyBits]

Here you go guys,

I have uploaded a site with V9, it is live, but nothing to worry about, not important, only a Euro version of my main site:

I have changed the acatalog by something giving more food to Google, which are the main keywords aimed on google for my business: body-jewellery

I think this is the main purpose of this feature, and I were not waiting to see it coming anymore..I could not believe it to see it has been implemented in V9...I am happy for this !

The only drawback is...Links! Every manual links containing the old "acatalog" in the descriptions of products or sections have to be changed manually. I have the beautiful spellchecker from Jan (Mole-end) but it supports only Version 8..BBack to work again Jan please !

Here it is, check it out, use it, see how it behaves on a live V9 site at:
http://www.body-piercing-jewellery.net

Let me know if anything wrong come up please..

All the bests

[leehack]

Let me know if anything wrong come up please..

This page amongst others looks like Stevie Wonder designed it. Check it out on 1024 screen size.

[Darren B]

PMSL - ermm i dont think it quite works some how

[Darren B]

Right lose the dodgy ticker tape at the top, does my head in

[Paul Bulpit]

I think this is the main purpose of this feature

OMG, agreed. But:

Open question: Further to my Post #2 above, would this idea help with SEO etc.?

That is, to include in an ecommerce url, the purpose/main product range of a site?

A meaningful extension to a domain name without having to register a new and complicated domain name?

Answers on a postcard please....

(Or, if considered relevant, someone start a new thread for discussion?)

Paul
http://www.amberwood.co.uk

[Ginnys Attic]

what would be a better solution all together would be the ability to have different directories created for different sections so for example although yes for the BodyBits example of changing from /acatalog/ to /body-jewellery/ which is at least more relivent imagine if Actinic gave us the ability to do away with the directory all together and add them manually when creating sections by including the required directory names per section within the Page Name field and Actinic creating the relivent directories.

EG:

/nose-piercing/gold_titanium_steel_nose_rings.html
/nose-piercing/titanium_nose_rings.html
/nose-piercing/surgical_steel_nose_rings.html

/nipple-piercing/gold_titanium_steel_PTFE_nipple_barbell.html
/nipple-piercing/gold_titanium_steel_nipple_rings.html

[Duncan Rounding]

What is the benefit of splitting the store into sections?

[Ginnys Attic]

What is the benefit of splitting the store into sections?

A more logical extension of the domain name for the customers and search engines for 1, another would be the ability to have html pages called the same thing in different directories and used for product duplicates where products are included in different sections.

Just look at play.com as an example, they use directories such as:

http://www.play.com/Games/PlayStatio...egionHome.html
http://www.play.com/Games/PlayStatio...egionHome.html
www.play.com/Games/PSP/6-/RegionHome.html
www.play.com/Games/Xbox/6-/RegionHome.html
www.play.com/Games/Xbox360/6-/RegionHome.html
www.play.com/Games/Wii/6-/RegionHome.html
www.play.com/Games/DS/6-/RegionHome.html

ok so in the case of play.com I’m not sure the /6-/RegionHome.html at the end of each section URL helps or achieves a lot and would guess it's just Mod Rewrite creating the directories but the inclusion of words Games and the Format (PlayStation2, PlayStation3, Xbox, Xbox360 etc will with out a doubt improve search engine rankings, ease of search engines to categorise and list sections and therefore in turn also improve listing but it also seems a very logical structure to me and probably most users and a way of listing the relevant products within relevant sections.

Ok so you could create something similar for each format using:

/Playstation2.html
/Playstation3.html
/Xbox.html
/Xbox360.html

etc etc but then how do you add a game for each format where you would require something like this

gamename.html
gamename.html
gamename.html
gamename.html

I appreciate you could add them like this:

Playstation2-gamename.html
Playstation3-gamename.html
Xbox-gamename.html
Xbox360-gamename.html

But then what would you call the pages should you want to include them in a different section such as Top Sellers?

Top-Seller-Playstation2-gamename.html
Top-Seller-Playstation3-gamename.html
Top-Seller-Xbox-gamename.html
Top-Seller-Xbox360-gamename.html

The addition of allowing users to create directories would resolve this as you could have a nice clear and simple logical format similar to play.com.

I have this problem with children’s dolls houses. We sell a house called Mayberry Manor so within the children’s section we have:

mayberry-manor.html

But within the main dolls house listing section where we also list the Mayberry Manor what do I now call the page?

We have to use the manufacturers name so we then have a page called:

le-toy-van-mayberry-manor.html

where as if we could specify directory names i would be able to simply have

/dolls-houses/mayberry-manor.html
/childrens-dolls-houses/mayberry-manor.html

And heaven forbid I then need to include the same dolls house within a section which lists products by manufactures cause then I would need to call it:

le-toy-van-mayberry-manor-H118.html (H118 being the part number)

I would think the directory method would be not only more logical but also very beneficial to search engine rankings and not least it would give us all the ability to have products in different sections using the same page name instead of adding things like manufacturers name or part number in the URL just to have the same product on a page in different sections.

[leehack]

When i first noticed this feature, i thought wow i didn't expect that and then almost instantly i thought 'half baked'. I think it would be best left as it was or provide the ability for as many sub directories as needed.

So i can change it to shop or online etc. but so what, it's hardly a ground breaking addition. I think the ability to remove it would have been better.

[Ginnys Attic]

When i first noticed this feature, i thought wow i didn't expect that and then almost instantly i thought 'half baked'. I think it would be best left as it was or provide the ability for as many sub directories as needed.

So i can change it to shop or online etc. but so what, it's hardly a ground breaking addition. I think the ability to remove it would have been better.

Agreed. Simply adding the ability to change it must have taken all of 10 minutes.