Configuring WP Permalinks

Configuring WP Permalinks
Quite often, we hear of the terms (permalinks or pretty permalinks) which can also be called SEO-friendly URLs. These URLs are not only SEO friendly, but I believe they are human friendly as well. By default, WordPress uses URLs that look like a mishmash of letters and numbers with a few question marks mixed in […]

Pretty Permalinks

Quite often, we hear of the terms (permalinks or pretty permalinks) which can also be called SEO-friendly URLs. These URLs are not only SEO friendly, but I believe they are human friendly as well. By default, WordPress uses URLs that look like a mishmash of letters and numbers with a few question marks mixed in for good measure. These types of links are frowned upon by search engine spiders and as a human being, they are also hard to read.

Fortunately, WordPress provides a way for us to change this linking structure to something understandable. WordPress calls these Permalinks. Permalink settings can be configured a number of different ways. One of the ways to quickly configure permalinks is by choosing one of the Common Options. These common options include:

Default - http://www.domain.com/?p=123

Date and name based - http://www.domain.com/2008/01/15/sample-post/

Numeric - http://www.domain.com/archives/123

There is no sense in using the default option so choose either Date and name based or Numeric if you don’t feel like tinkering with the Custom Structure.

The custom structure of the permalinks settings area allows you to customize the way permalinks are displayed by using any combination of the following permalink tags.

%year% - 4-digit year (for example, 2008)

%monthnum% - 2-digit month (for example, 01 for January)

%day% - 2-digit day (for example, 15)

%hour% - 2-digit hour of the day (for example, 20 for 10PM)

%minute% - 2-digit minute (for example, 50)

%second% - 2-digit second (for example, 24)

%postname% - Text separated by dashes which usually ends up being the post name. (for example, configuring-wp-permalinks)

%post_id% - The unique, numerical ID of the post (for example, 124)

%category% - The text of the category name that the post is filed in (for example, how-to)

%author% - Text of the post author’s name (for example, ronald-huereca)

Example of custom structure in use:

Custom Structure: /%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/

Link Output: http://www.domain.com/2008/01/16/

Make sure that you include the back slashes at the beginning of the custom structure, after each tag and at the end. This will ensure that WordPress writes the correct rules in the .htaccess file via mod_rewrite.

For my own blog, I seem to have done fairly well in the search engines by using the Custom Structure method and using the %postname% tag. I can’t say for sure which combination would do better or worst for search engines. The only thing I can suggest is that you configure your permalinks to look whats best for you.

WARNING

Changing the structure of your permalinks affects all of the permalinks on your blog. This is important to know because search engines will have indexed posts on your site via their permalinks. If you change the permalink structure mid stream, you will end up invalidating all of those links.

What to do if you don’t have a .htaccess file?

If you notice that you don’t have a .htaccess file within the same directory as your WordPress installation, you can create one by first creating a blank .txt file and saving the file as htaccess.txt. Upload this file via FTP to the same folder that houses your WordPress installation. Once the file is uploaded, set the permissions to the file as 666. Next, rename the file to .htaccess. Now you should have a blank .htaccess file for which WordPress can write the proper permalink rules to.

Servers That Don’t Use Apache Or mod_rewrite.

If the webhosting server you are on does not have the apache module mod_rewrite enabled, you can still use the permalink settings in WordPress by placing index.php in front of any custom permalink tags.

For example: /index.php/%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/

Equals: http://www.domain.com/index.php/2008/01/16/

Using index.php in this way eliminates the need for a .htaccess file.

I hope this little primer on how to configure your permalinks within WordPress was helpful. I’ve seen too many blogs out on the net that have yet to take advantage of this awesome feature. As I’ve said before, using any sort of permalink structure is better than the WP default. Not only is it beneficial in terms of SEO, but it also makes it easier for human beings to see at a glance, what a particular link is pointing to without having to visit the page.

If you use the custom structure aspect of permalinks, I’d be very interested in knowing which configuration of permalink tags you have chosen to use and why.

WordPress Theme Releases for 1 / 21
Three Column Themes Blue Lily Blue Lily is a three column theme which is quite simple and attractive, the main background is a striking blue with green color for the header. The navigation menu is right on the top of the page making it easily visible. Content area is big enough and has a gray background. There are […]

Three Column Themes

Blue Lily

Blue Lily is a three column theme which is quite simple and attractive, the main background is a striking blue with green color for the header. The navigation menu is right on the top of the page making it easily visible.

Content area is big enough and has a gray background. There are two sidebars which you can use to show off additional information.

Widget Ready: Yes

Compatibility: There were no issues that I saw with this theme on Firefox 2+, IE6, IE7, Flock.

Validations: Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional | Invalid CSS with 1 error

Demo | Release Page | Download

Blue Dream

Blue Dream is a three column theme with a graphical header and rounded navigational menu on the top of the page. The theme comes built in with RSS icons on top of the page to make it easier to subscribe to feeds.

There are two sidebars which can be used to display additional information and advertisements.

Widget Ready: Yes

Compatibility: There were no issues that I saw with this theme on Firefox 2+, IE6, IE7, Flock.

Validations: Invalid XHTML 1.0 Transitional with 32 errors | Valid CSS

Demo / Download

Airborne

Airborne is a three column theme which makes use of clouds in the header and footer sidebar section as a background. The main content area is a bit small which does not allow you to add big images into the content.

There are two sidebars for showing additional content, it also has a footer sidebar where you can add more content allowing you pack all the information like top posts, recent posts etc in a single page.

Note: The release page is in German.

Widget Ready: Yes

Compatibility: There were no issues that I saw with this theme on Firefox 2+, IE6, IE7, Flock.

Validations: Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional | Valid CSS

Demo / Download

Best Blog Typography - Performancing Awards 2007
Best Blog Typography - Performancing Awards 2007 Reader’s Choice Poll WeblogToolsCollection.com has been chosen to be one of the contenders for the Best Blog Typography Award from Performancing.com. The blog with the most number of votes by January 10, 2007 wins the 2007 Reader’s Choice award. They define typography as “design and arrangement of […]

Best Blog Typography - Performancing Awards 2007 Reader’s Choice Poll WeblogToolsCollection.com has been chosen to be one of the contenders for the Best Blog Typography Award from Performancing.com. The blog with the most number of votes by January 10, 2007 wins the 2007 Reader’s Choice award. They define typography as “design and arrangement of fonts”. We are in some tremendous company (ALA, Freeland Switch etc.), but please vote for us if you feel that we deserve the honor. Check out and vote for contestants in the rest of Performancing Awards. Thanks Performancing

[EDIT] How could I forget the original designer? Thanks João

What Makes a WordPress Theme Premium?
About a week ago Smashing Magazine released an article covering 100 free WordPress themes. And just yesterday they released an article covering premium WordPress themes. My questions to the reader is: what makes a WordPress theme premium? Is it the Features? What features does a theme have to have to be considered premium? What are […]

About a week ago Smashing Magazine released an article covering 100 free WordPress themes. And just yesterday they released an article covering premium WordPress themes.

My questions to the reader is: what makes a WordPress theme premium?

Is it the Features?

What features does a theme have to have to be considered premium? What are you looking for that will immediately tell a premium theme apart from a non-premium theme?

Is it the Design?

Are premium themes designed any differently than their non-premium counterparts? What design elements does a premium theme have that others don’t?

Is it the Support?

Do premium themes offer more in terms of author support and upgrades?

Or Something Else…

Please weigh in on what you feel makes a WordPress theme premium.

WordPress Theme Releases for 1/14
One Column Themes DePo Skinny A very simple one column theme with easy integration for your Flickr pictures at the top of the page. It is a real bare bone theme and is only 500 pixels wide. Though DePo Skinny does not have a sidebar it makes it up in the footer with a bottom sidebar to […]

One Column Themes

DePo Skinny

A very simple one column theme with easy integration for your Flickr pictures at the top of the page. It is a real bare bone theme and is only 500 pixels wide. Though DePo Skinny does not have a sidebar it makes it up in the footer with a bottom sidebar to display additional information.

Being a one column theme main advertisement options are within the post itself.

Widget Ready: No Sidebar Options

Compatibility: There were no issues that I saw with this theme on Firefox 2+, IE6, IE7, Flock and Opera browsers.

Validations: Invalid XHTML 1.0 Transitional with 30 errors | Valid CSS

Demo | Download

Two Column Themes

Twister 2.0

Twister 2.0 is made up of dark colors with a mix of gray and black with on a grayish background. The links are white in color and easy to spot with the darkish background. However the text color is harder to read in bright lights. This is an update over the earlier version which includes CSS code cleanup a fix for sidebar in IE6 and a new addition of 3 new columns in the footer.

Overall a good looking theme which is a bit more than simple. Main flaw is that there is very limited advertisement options.

Widget Ready: Yes

Compatibility: There were no issues that I saw with this theme on Firefox 2+, IE6, IE7, Flock and Opera browsers.

Validations: Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional | Invalid CSS with 90 warnings

Demo | Download

Codelog

Codelog is a minimalistic two column theme with sparse use of colors. The theme consists of a sidebar and navigation to the left side. The right side consists of the content area.

Codelog theme is quite simple and makes use of 3-4 colors. Advertising options are limited to the content area.

Widget Ready: No

Compatibility: There were no issues that I saw with this theme on Firefox 2+, IE6, IE7, Flock and Opera browsers.

Validations: Valid XHTML 1.1 | Valid CSS

Demo | Download