zikula/core — Issue #165: Short URL settings feature is misleading and confusing
Author: mattlt
Created: 2011-11-15 16:51:12+00:00
State: open

In the settings module there is a short URL setting to "Do not display module name in short URLs for" a specific module.

I understand that this is used to hide a module name if you want to make the bulk of your site be a 'blog' for example and hide the news module name in the URL for cleanliness. This is also preventing sites from giving proper HTTP headers in certain cases. The implications of what this setting can do to your site is not very clear and may actually harm your site.

1. If this setting is disabled and I go to a page that doesn't exist, I get a 200 OK HTTP header, the user receives no error message of any kind, and you are brought to whatever page is set in your start page settings.

2. If this setting is set to a module other than the Errors module, I get a 200 OK HTTP header and the user receives an error message that the action was not successful and that the page couldn't be found.

3. If this setting is set to the Errors module, I get the expected 404 Not Found HTTP header and the user receives actual 404 text that they would expect.

If the setting is not set to the Errors module Google could begin indexing nonexistent pages (2) or duplicate content (1).