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How do I set up Joomla's Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URL writing? PDF Print E-mail
Written by Mandville   
Sunday, 13 December 2009 17:24

So here is a very basic guide to getting it up and running!

1. Determine whether your server is running WINDOWS or LINUX (you can determine this by looking at Tools>System information in the Control Panel.  This is VITAL!

LINUX SERVERS:

1. Log into your admin control panel and go to Global Configuration
2. Navigate to the section with Search Engine Friendly URL's settings
3. Turn on SEF URL's, and turn on Use mod_rewrite (requires Apache)
4. Using an FTP client, find the file in the ROOT OF YOUR JOOMLA DIRECTORY (i.e. if it's installed in the root of your web server it'll be found in /public_html/htaccess.txt but if you installed Joomla into a folder named "myjoomlainstallation" it will be in /public_html/myjoomlainstallation/htaccess.txt)
5. Rename any existing file called ".htaccess" to ".htaccessold"
6. Rename your "htaccess.txt" file to ".htaccess"
7. Save your changes in the Admin control panel (you'll be promted to change the htaccess file as we just did)
8. Go to the homepage of your site (e.g. www.mydomain.com or www.mydomain.com/myjoomlainstallation) and check the links in your site are working OK.


Some potential areas where problems may occur:

1. Joomlafish - you will need a specific plugin for this, I would advise using SEF components such as Artio or sh404 with appropriate plugin
2. Cached pages - occasionally you may need to clear the cache (via the Admin control panel, global operations) if a page or link continues to appear or work incorrectly
3. Non-standard components, modules and plugins - they should work, but some do have "quirks" - generally best to contact the developers via their support mechanisms or use a SEF component with a plugin.


WINDOWS SERVERS:

1. Log into your admin control panel and go to Global Configuration
2. Navigate to the section with Search Engine Friendly URL's settings
3. Turn on SEF URL's, DO NOT USE MOD_REWRITE
4. Go to the homepage of your site (e.g. www.mydomain.com or www.mydomain.com/myjoomlainstallation) and check the links in your site are working OK.
5. Note, unless you use a url "prettifier", your URL's will have /index.php? in them.  Our suggestions? Use linux!
 

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