I want Friendly urls for my store

I am need of a plug in for Friendly urls. Like permalinks in Wordpress, I am surprized it is not in Zencart 1.5x and not in the upcoming roadmap. Most are obsolete, or "use at your own risk", or after paying 250.00 US Dollar for Ceon URI Mapping (SEO), I find out that if the product name is the same, it will give a 404 error. So, you have to manually change those. I have a nightly datafeed so I am not going to update them manually everyday.

A simple friendly url plug in like Wordpress. Isn't there such a thing? ANyone?

Thanks

Out of curiosity. Why did you pay $250.00 for a plugin that is in the free plugins here on zen cart?
http://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=889
The plugin does work. I have used it on a variety of version of zen cart.
As for the name issue. The reason it is having a problem with a duplicate product name is because of how the url is defined.
Are the products with the same name also in the same categories?

If you have a nightly data feed and if you have duplicates. In their email they said it's all working fine but there are over 150 duplicates ( in reality, there are 265 products with the same name but they are not dupes ). So, I have to manually modify the url. And, I would have to monitor every day for potential products with the same name. And, it only works in the top navigation, not the sidebar categories. Those are some big problems. Like Wordpress, permalinks, you don't have to monitor anything.

The free version means, you have to change the url manually. That is 17,000 products and do it every day. The paid version will get you started, but you have to manually change dupes. So, you can see why this would not work for an ecommerce store that has alot of products. Pretty bad for 250.00 bucks. I found another one that was free. No totally perfect, but, I don't have to do a thing. Finally, after weeks of trying them out.

palmislandinc:

If you have a nightly data feed and if you have duplicates. In their email they said it's all working fine but there are over 150 duplicates ( in reality, there are 265 products with the same name but they are not dupes ). So, I have to manually modify the url. And, I would have to monitor every day for potential products with the same name.

Then I would suggest you contact your data feed supplier for them to sort out their duplicate content listings.

Pretty bad for 250.00 bucks.

this mod is, and always has been FREE! So why did you get yourself ripped off for $250???

picandnix:

Then I would suggest you contact your data feed supplier for them to sort out their duplicate content listings.
...................
this mod is, and always has been FREE! So why did you get yourself ripped off for $250???

Agreed! -- Clever con!

Take home message: always search the 'Plugins' section of this site first before reaching for the back pocket.

Just my 2 cents

Frank

frank18:

Agreed! -- Clever con!

Take home message: always search the 'Plugins' section of this site first before reaching for the back pocket.

Just my 2 cents

Frank

Conor also had a paid version of the module. This version can automatically generate the rewritten urls with one button click

Design75:

Conor also had a paid version of the module...

Absolutely - and his modules always worked to perfection. He is sadly missed.

frank18:

Absolutely - and his modules always worked to perfection. He is sadly missed.

Connor == Perfection
``` :smile:

Design75:

Connor == Perfection

Without a doubt!

Most of us developers can't tell our data feed providers to change their system. Bottom line is, a duplicate should be defined by product number, product id, NOT product name. Let's say you have "Metal Clamps" as the product name, I have 12 with slightly different description and price and vendor. This should be allowed to happen. The worst part is, rather than just not changing the link in case of a dup**e, it generates a 404 error, **the worst possible thing to do.

The FREE version means you have to change each url MANUALLY. I have 17K products. And I would have to monitor my daily feed after changing 17 thousands products by hand.

What should happen, is just like Wordpress Permalinks. That is what i was hoping for.

In the end, I found a simple FREE friendly plugin that went in easy with a few files and it changed the url for ALL products automatically. Paying more, does not get you more. If you have a static ecommerce store, CEON is fine. But most of us have data feeds and don't want 404s and don't want to monitor or manually change links each day.

In the end, I found a simple FREE friendly plugin that went in easy with a few files and it changed the url for ALL products automatically. Paying more, does not get you more. If you have a static ecommerce store, CEON is fine. But most of us have data feeds and don't want 404s and don't want to monitor or manually change links each day.

but as we keep stating, Ceon is free anyway.
What was the add-on that has fulfilled your needs? It may help others in the future.

picandnix:

but as we keep stating, Ceon is free anyway.
What was the add-on that has fulfilled your needs? It may help others in the future.

And another question I was longing to ask is, Why do you need so called friendly urls anyway

Hi,

I would like to mention the plugin I am using for Friendly URLs on my zencart site:
Ultimate SEO URLs

Ultimate SEO URLs converts your URLs automatically
Ceon URI Mapping allows you to type your URI Mapping/slug so you have more control.

I like Ultimate SEO URLs the most because it is much simpler. It has fewer files and overwrites fewer core files.

By default, Ceon URI Mapping only sets up Friendly URLs for categories, products, ez-pages and manufacturers.
By default, Ceon URI Mapping does not set up Friendly URLs for other pages like shopping_cart, advanced_search, contact_us, etc.
But you can set up Friendly URLs for these pages on the ceon_uri_mappings database table,
simply add a new row to the table for each page.

That's it. I simply thought that a comparison between the 2 plugins would add some value.

responsivezc:

I am using for Friendly URLs on my zencart site:

These are words that make experienced developers cringe.

When you refer to a 'friendly URL' do you mean "Human friendly' or 'Search Engine Friendly'. Few people make this distinction even though they are mutually exclusive requirements.

Cheers
Rod