About the Author
Liam McDermott is the technical bod at The Webmaster Forums. He also writes articles and loves dallying with Drupal. His business site is InterMedia.
Enabling Clean URLs and the Path Module in Drupal
by Liam McDermott, 19 June 2007 - 8:12pm
Clean URLs and the Path module are complementary features of Drupal. This mixed text and video article shows how to enable this functionality. Many aPaddedCell articles on Drupal expect that readers will have Clean URLs and the Path module enabled.
Enable Clean URLs
Clean URLs can be enabled by selecting Administer -> Site Configuration -> Clean URLs from the Drupal side bar menu. The enable option will be blanked out until a test has been run. To run the test click Run the clean URL test: this will ensure Apache has mod_rewrite enabled: something the reader doesn't need to understand, unless the test fails! If the test does fail, ensure there is a file named .htaccess in the directory where Drupal is installed. If that file is where it should be contact the hosting company, check whether they have mod_rewrite enabled. Alternatively post a question on mod_rewrite to our webmaster forums.
The video is in Flash format; as this is a non-Free, and patent enclubered, format not all surfers are able to view it. For these users an OGG video is available.
This is a Flash placeholder, please see above for alternate to Flash. Or download Flash from Adobe.
Enabling the Path Module
The Path Module allows pages created in Drupal to have URLs of the authors choosing, e.g. http://www.example.com/whateverpageyoulike where whateverpageyoulike is chosen by the author. Like all modules, this is enabled via Administer -> Site Building -> Modules from the Drupal side bar menu. Under the group Core - optional search for Path. Check the box next to it and Save configuration to save the changes.
As before, this video is in Flash format. An OGG video alternative is also available.
This is a Flash placeholder, please see above for alternate to Flash. Or download Flash from Adobe.
This should have enabled Clean URLs and the Path module in Drupal. If more help is needed, post a question on Clean URLs and the Path module to our Webmaster Forum. These features offer both SEO benefits and make a site easier to use.
