Configuring Structured URL Settings


Prerequisites:

Administrators can map requested URL paths to CMS xIDs. Structured URLs generate a semantic virtual page hierarchy by storing content items in a flat directory structure.

For example, the non-structured URL http://mycompany.com/x123.xml could, instead, look like http://mycompany.com/products/hardware/tools.

To configure structured URL settings:
  1. Navigate to Administration > Publishing System > Publishing Targets.
  2. Select the Info tab in the appropriate publishing target.

    Publishing Target Structured URL Settings

  3. Complete the following fields in the Structured URLs area:
    FieldDescription
    Home Page (required)Provide the xID where structured URLs begin. Only the home page and content items beneath its xID receive structured URL mapping, automatically.
    Tip
    If your Site Tree contains multiple websites within the same file structure, choose the home page location carefully.
    Error Handling PageYou can specify an internal page to handle errors. If you don't specify a page, the CMS uses the default File not Found error page.
    Important
    This page doesn't need to be beneath the Home Page xID. If you specify an xID, the page must meet the following conditions:
    • the page is published.
    • the page is available on the DSS site.
    • the page has a different xID than the home page.
    URL File Extension (without dot)You can specify what extension structured URLs use: htm, html, or xml. Although visitors can reach a page by using any of the three extensions, the extension specified are visible in navigations. The default extension is xml.
    Note
    Omit the period from the extension you provide.
    URL Word SeparatorYou can specify the replacement for spaces contained in file names. If you select no list item, the structured URLs default to Remove spaces between words.

    Select one of the following list items:

    • dash ( - )
    • Underscore ( _ )
    • Remove spaces between words (default)
    Site Base URLProvide a base URL for the publishing target. This base displays in each of the publishing target's structured URLs.
  4. Select or clear the following checkboxes:
    OptionDescription
    Publish lower case URLsIf selected, specifies that all links published in site pages display in lower case.
    Redirect all requests to canonical URL automaticallyIf selected, automatically uses a 301 redirect to send users to the canonical URL of a given page if they request the page with a different URL. The canonical URL represents the URL that you want website users to see.
    Include folder names in URLsIf selected, allows the Site Tree structure, including folder names, to reflect in the URLs generated.
    Normalize URL SeparatorsIf selected, prevents separators from repeating in structured URLs. For example, if an administrator selects the dash (-) as the URL word separator, the page name Student - Life will display as Student-Life rather than Student---Life.
    Remove character diacriticsIf selected, strips URLs of characters with diacritical marks (e.g., á, ñ, ü) and replaces them with non-diacritic characters.
    Preserves periods in URLIf selected, prevents the CMS from stripping the period (.) character from URLs.
  5. Click Save in the top right corner of the publishing target view.

    Save Publishing Target

Next Steps: Choose one of the following optional steps.