Note: This site might seem inactive… That’s because it is. Don’t worry though, I’m still coding webpages and stuff! If you’re interested, I suggest you get a translator and head over to Qiwi; or you could just check the latest site we’ve been working on: Apotheek Goethals – Debrabandere. Enjoy!
What’s wrong with my IRI scheme
Every single post I add to this blog, gets a unique IRI of the form http://mathiasbynens.be/archive/yyyy/mm/post-slug. Though I used to be satisfied with that scheme — after all, it’s cruft-free — I lately began to think it doesn’t suit this site’s needs.
How frequently do I make a new blog entry? Like, once a month? And then, what do I blog about? Web development related shizzle… (Except for the occasional meme, that is; I honestly can’t help being tagged all the time. Bastards!) Who gives a damn about when such an article is written if it’s not related to any date-tied events? The only thing that really matters, the true essence of a post, is its title. So much for the yyyy/mm/ part.
That other bit, /archive, doesn’t add much value to the whole IRI either. Though, it brings home to the more savvy users that the requested page is a blog entry, and not a static
page (e.g. a colophon). Somehow I feel like /articles would be a much better choice in this case.
Ideally though, every post would have its own IRI base, depending on the categories it belongs to. How much better is /javascript/number-format compared to something like /archive/2006/01/js-number-format?
That’s what I’ve been thinking. However, I don’t know of an easy way of creating such an IRI scheme in WordPress easily. I could of course change all posts into pages with their own IRIs, but that would affect the home page, the syndication feeds, et cetera.
It comes down to this: I just can’t be bothered at the moment.
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I agree. On the next version of my personal site I am switching to a category based scheme too, simply because I write way too infrequently too.
I am afraid I can’t help you with the WordPress implementation though.
Of course the problem with putting posts/pages (what’s the difference anyway?) inside a category is that sometimes it can fit under multiple categories. I have the same ‘problem’ with my stuff dir, but I cba to change it. Good to see even you can’t be either atm :)
It actually is very easy to implement in WordPress, as I did ages ago for a client where I use WP as a CMS instead of a blog. Just go to
wp-admin/options-permalink.phpand try the permalink structure/%category%/%postname%…That solution indeed works fine, as long as every post is added to only one category. However, as Krijn mentioned:
Sadly, that rule very much applies to this ‘ere blog. I don’t know of an easy way to tell WordPress which of the post’s categories is the most important one, i.e. which one should be used in the permalink.
Please be aware that if you changed your IRI scheme, those cached pages in search engine will lead to 404 in your site.
I would of couse take care of that using 301 redirects… :p
That simply means you are already aware of it. Good!
I thought about this for a long time too when redesigning my site. doesn’t seem reasonable as it implies time — I just used . I still kept the
/year/month/format since/articles/%post-slug%/might lead to multiple posts of the same slug. The categories thing is really an irony. Technically a post shouldn’t belong to more than one category (other than parent categories). If it needs more specific details, tags should do you good.Totally agree with this one. Tags should take of things multiple category really shouldn’t. Oh boy, I really need to redesign and start writing. So much to do, so little time…
I didn’t know where to post this, it’s about your blogmarks.
FRAPS sucks.
I love the way El Bandano, aka Philips The Great, just posts a comment that has nothing to do with all te technical things, and just says what he wants to say!
I’m doing the same right now!
But that’s just because I don’t really understand a thing of what you and your homies are saying.
I want to be more intelligent than I am…
Yes! I’m jealous!
So, buddy, goodbye!
And to say something really stupid:
‘Keep up the good work!’
Sebiet Poepe’ Wij Hier!
Well, the Top Cat plugin lets you specify which category is the most important for each post. I’ll see if I can augment it to ensure that
%category%in permalinks always refers to the main category. At last I might be able to make Top Cat useful to somebody other that myself!This doesn’t relate. But it has been a year… where are you Mathias? Still alive and kicking? Let me (us) know.