Add-on Vanity URLs for Member Page Based On Special Usergroup

[DRE]

Most people do not remember the url of their forum profile which means they are less likely to share it. Lets add vanity urls so that they can share links to their page easier (which in turn helps our SEO). Add a usergroup permission so that this is a privilege. This vanity url feature is already present in Xenforo through an addon called Better Blogs. The problem is most forumers don't blog so that means less links shared. Also inspired by Turning a Subforum into a Blog

 

[Sheldon]

Most people do not remember the url of their forum profile which means they are less likely to share it. Lets add vanity urls so that they can share links to their page easier (which in turn helps our SEO). Add a usergroup permission so that this is a privilege. This vanity url feature is already present in Xenforo through an addon called Better Blogs. The problem is most forumers don't blog so that means less links shared.

So... we have to purchase Better Blogs in order for members to have vanity url's?

Or what are you asking... a seperate add-on, not relying on that one?

 

[DRE]

So... we have to purchase Better Blogs in order for members to have vanity url's?

Or what are you asking... a seperate add-on, not relying on that one?

A separate addon that makes the member page the vanity url.

For example. http://sheldon.xenforo.com That's what Better Blogs does and it changes even if you change your screen name.

 

[Saimmi]

Very much in favour. Liked!

 

[Flexin]

That is interesting. That could be a nice feature for build threads on a car forum.

James

 

[Jake B.]

Then you run into the issue of usernames that contain special characters, which cannot be used in a subdomain (such as a period)

 

[DRE]

Then you run into the issue of usernames that contain special characters, which cannot be used in a subdomain (such as a period)

Not a problem if usernames are set as alpha-numeric only in AdminCP/User Registration/User Name Match Regular Expression. I don't have my vanity urls for Better Blogs turned on at the moment but when it is, it also lets users use spaces. When they use a space it puts a dash in their vanity url. When they use a special character it ignores it completely. You'd have to ask @Rigel Kentaurus how that works.

 

[Sheldon]

Not a problem if usernames are set as alpha-numeric only in AdminCP/User Registration/User Name Match Regular Expression. I don't have my vanity urls for Better Blogs turned on at the moment but when it is, it also lets users use spaces. When they use a space it puts a dash in their vanity url. When they use a special character it ignores it completely. You'd have to ask @Rigel Kentaurus how that works.

So how would say... these 5 vanity URL's be listed? 5 different members, all having similar name....?

Username:
RichardSmith
Richard_Smith
Richard-Smith
Richard$Smith
Richard Smith

 

[DRE]

So how would say... these 5 vanity URL's be listed? 5 different members, all having similar name....?

Username:
RichardSmith
Richard_Smith
Richard-Smith
Richard$Smith
Richard Smith

I think Better Blogs Multisite ignores all special characters even if its a hyphen. I've only seen spaces get a hypen.

So it would look like:

RichardSmith
RichardSmith
RichardSmith
RichardSmith
Richard-Smith

 

[Jake B.]

So how would say... these 5 vanity URL's be listed? 5 different members, all having similar name....?

Username:
RichardSmith
Richard_Smith
Richard-Smith
Richard$Smith
Richard Smith

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe something like this:

Username: RichardSmith
User ID: 1
Vanity: RichardSmith

Username: Richard_Smith
User ID: 7
Vanity: Richard-Smith

Username:Richard-Smith
User ID: 15
Vanity: Richard-Smith.2

Username:Richard$Smith
User ID: 20
Vanity: Richard-Smith.3

Username:Richard Smith
User ID: 17
Vanity: Richard-Smith.4

Or something like that.. But then you get into the point of having a random number after their username, which is what is trying to be avoided. So the best bet would be to only allow A-Za-z0-9 and a space in the usernames. But that completely ruins the plugin for any established forumes.

I think Better Blogs Multisite ignores all special characters even if its a hyphen. I've only seen spaces get a hypen.

So it would look like:

RichardSmith
RichardSmith
RichardSmith
RichardSmith
Richard-Smith

And then you have 4 users with the same vanity name. How do you expect it to know which one you are actually wanting to see?

 

[DRE]

That sounds good @ the numbers behind each name.

 

[Jake B.]

So, they will remember that number, but not their UserID?

 

[DRE]

So, they will remember that number, but not their UserID?

They would and that only applies in rare cases. Most people won't have similar usernames.

No, they're not going to remember their user id. Are you gonna remember yours? 38615?

 

[iamjudd]

This sounds like it would be pretty cool. I would say not have it go by the username they pick though, make it like how facebook and other social networks let you pick what you want it to be.

 

[Jake B.]

This sounds like it would be pretty cool. I would say not have it go by the username they pick though, make it like how facebook and other social networks let you pick what you want it to be.

That seems like it would work much nicer than using their username, and having to deal with duplicates.

 

[Daniel Hood]

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe something like this:

Username: RichardSmith
User ID: 1
Vanity: RichardSmith

Username: Richard_Smith
User ID: 7
Vanity: Richard-Smith

Username:Richard-Smith
User ID: 15
Vanity: Richard-Smith.2

Username:Richard$Smith
User ID: 20
Vanity: Richard-Smith.3

Username:Richard Smith
User ID: 17
Vanity: Richard-Smith.4

Or something like that.. But then you get into the point of having a random number after their username, which is what is trying to be avoided. So the best bet would be to only allow A-Za-z0-9 and a space in the usernames. But that completely ruins the plugin for any established forumes.



And then you have 4 users with the same vanity name. How do you expect it to know which one you are actually wanting to see?

Facebook does that by default. Uses your first and last name and then an incremental number if your names URL is already used. They obviously give you the option to change it later too though.

 

[iamjudd]

Personally I think the best option would just to be able to give the user the option to choose their own vanity URL via editing their profile and during the registration process.

 

[DRE]

I don't care how it gets done or lacking features anymore as long as it gets done some sort've way. Would throw money at this if I knew where to throw it to.

 

[DRE]

Speaking of facebook, I like the forumname.com/username format better than username.forumname.com

 

[Jake B.]

I might try to do this. It seems like it'd be easy enough to do.