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#237148 06/03/2010 6:25 AM
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What exactly are the changes after switching on this option? Is it worth doing from an SEO perspective?

Also, what kind of memory/CPU usage increase can one expect from turning on this function? Does it format links in a particular way when posts are made, or does it parse posts each time when users read them?

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This site has the spider friendly urls on.
So compare your site main page to this one to see the difference.

It just makes it easier for the spiders to crawl the site since some don't like the standard url like ?,= BLA BLA and they give up.
I have never seen any cpu hit from doing so.
But I would not suggest turning it on and off on a I feel like trying it today.
Because it will confuse people especially when they google something and they see two results with different url's to the same site.
It has been quite a while since I tried but if you enable the option the old and new url will both return the same post.


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Well, if you intend your forums to be indexed, spider friendly is ultimately a requirement, otherwise some search engines are going to choke on some characters (such as: ? or =).

You'd be looking at urls formatted like
test.php/request/data

vs:
test.php?request=data


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When I tried enabling them a few years ago, my forums wouldn't run. I don't remember the specifics, but I never tried again.


Steve

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You must be on a windows host.
I had the same problem when I was on a windows server.
due to path info not enabled.
the note in the cp states:
Note: The PATH_INFO environmental variable must be available for this feature to function properly.

I'll bet that was your problem.

As I recall there is a way to enable it on windows but it has been said by microsoft that it causes a security risk.
And usually the host provider would have to enable it for you.


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My site has never been on a Windows server, in ten years of existence. It was on Ubuntu for a while, and is now back on Linux.


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Then you really should not have had a issue since the PATH_INFO environmental variable is usually on by default for linux.


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What about Ubuntu? It could have been during the Ubuntu era when I tried it.


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I am not sure about ubuntu never tried it. But I would think it would be a host issue.
With your current host you could try cp>>php info and look for path_info.
Sometimes it will not report back correctly but there is a way to just use your browser to test if it is working.
In fact there is a post here somewhere.
I will look to see if I can find it.


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I searched for the string "path_info" and it found nothing, so I guess not. I do get some spider traffic (11 spiders at the moment).


Steve

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There are a lot of posts on path_info here.
But here is one that might help:
https://www.ubbcentral.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/218392/





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BTW, I just tried it, and the board went nuts. The problem MAY have something to do with the integration of flashchat, because that seemed to be popping up. I was running the laptop at the time, then IE7 seized, and ended up having to run to my office to shut the "spider friendly" off. Now it is normal again, and I had to use task manager to kill IE7 on the laptop.

I wonder how many people I pissed off!


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Yea it sounds like path_info is off.
Because it will bark back if not enabled.
Read my prior post to test it.
That will not impact visitors that visit the site.


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OK... I'll take a look at that.

Thanks for your help, Ruben, as always!


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Just so you know on my site the value is listed as:
cgi.fix_pathinfo. So you may need to contact your host.


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OK.

Right now, the wife thinks that I should be taking her shopping, so I will have to continue this later. laugh


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I know how that goes.


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I run my boards on Ubuntu, and have never had an issue with spider friendly urls being turned on.

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I've put a request through to my host to update the settings, per this thread and the other one. We'll see what happens.


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Hmmm...

I just got this reply back from Hostway support:

Originally Posted by Hostway
Steve,

Changing Apache configs is not covered under support and is considered Professional Services, which are billable at $75 per half hour. Please let us know if you approve these charges and we can set this up for you.

Nice.


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Well, firstly, hostaway is a joke; the fact that they refuse to make an update that most hosts have in the first place just further enhances that.

Secondly, you could try adding this to your .htaccess file:
Code
acceptpathinfo on

Also, the "path_info" variable won't show in phpinfo unless it's populated; so when testing just access your phpinfo file with a query, such as:
phpinfo.php/path/data.html

And if the page doesn't work it's off, if it does work and it's not populated it doens't work. If path_info shows "path/data.html" then it works fine.


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