I've put this together for URLs & and Clean URLs. I'd like to see any other add-on modules under it as well following the same WHEWF (What, How, Example, Why, Further reading.) I will be working on PathAuto tomorrow. I have to stop doing this stuff or I'm never going to get my site up LOL.
URL = Uniform Resource Locator. The text you see, or type in your browser address bar. i.e., http://www.example.com http:// is the protocol your browser uses to find www.example.com which is where the data lives.
Administer >> Site Configuration >> Clean URLs
If you are able to, enabling this option allows for Clean URLs.
WHAT
This module (core) allows you to enable Clean URLs. A clean URL doesn't have ?q= in the address bar of your browser. With clean URLs you instead get text.
EXAMPLE
The URL to the Create Content link without clean URLs would be: http://www.example.com/?q=node/add
The link or address with clean URLs it would be: http://www.example.com/node/add
HOW
Enable this from: Administer >> Site configuration >> Clean URLs your server must be able to allow them. If you fail the test that is offered see Clean URLs for further information.
WHY
Why would you want to enable this? It's much easier to type an address. Your links will look better, and are easier to read and share, and search engines have an easier time with them.
Comments
Expansion
Clean URLs will end up with
http://www.example.com/node/4567. In order to get something likehttp://www.example.com/mypage(or better yethttp://www.example.com/mypage.html) one needs to at least enable the core Path module and enter a URL Alias when creating (or later) the page.I am not a big fan of Pathauto because it makes what I feel are "messy" URL aliases. I have removed it from my sites. I can see, however, if someone makes a lot of pages it might be useful.
I don't think it matters one whit to the search engines whether you use Clean URLs, URL Aliases, or standard addresses, just so long as they don't change after the SEs have started indexing your site.
Oh, yes, HyperText Transfer Protocol. Contrasted with File Transfer Protocol.
Nancy W.
now running 4 sites on Drupal so far
Drupal Cookbook (for New Drupallers)
Nancy Dru
Just an FYI on the Pathauto
Just an FYI on the Pathauto you can tell it how you want it to create your url's. I actually like it a lot because it enables you to find all node types without views or snippets ;-)
The search engine information came from a book page on clean url's. I will add the part about enabling path's. Never thought about that part thanks!
Shari
I may be different,
may I never be indifferent.
Shari
I may be different,
may I never be indifferent.
URL Description
This may be too much for this mini-tutorial, but it may not be a good idea to assume someone understands the word protocol.
URL = Uniform Resource Locator. The text you see, or type in your browser address bar. i.e., http://www.example.com The "http://" is the protocol, or the way the browser and web server should communicate. It tells your browser the requested page is HyperText Transfer Protocol and should be displayed as a web page. Examples of other protocols are https:// for Secure HTTP and ftp:// for File Transfer Protocol. The domain name, i.e."www.example.com" tells the browser where to find the data.