Editing Manual/Short URL (section)

== Introduction == <!--T:3-->

=== Goal === <!--T:4-->

<!--T:5-->
The default MediaWiki installation path looks like this:
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: <code>/var/www/html/mediawiki</code> ''<translate><!--T:6--> (installed as root user)</translate>''
: <code>/home/johndoe/public_html/mediawiki</code> ''<translate><!--T:7--> (installed with a shared hosting provider)</translate>''

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<!--T:8-->
MediaWiki's default page addresses looks like these examples:
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: <code><nowiki>https://example.org/w/index.php/Page_title</nowiki></code> ''<translate><!--T:9--> (recent versions of MediaWiki, without [[w:Common Gateway Interface|CGI]] support)</translate>''
: <code><nowiki>https://example.org/w/index.php?title=Page_title</nowiki></code> ''<translate><!--T:10--> (recent versions of MediaWiki, with CGI support)</translate>''

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<!--T:11-->
Using the methods outlined on this page, we can configure something like this:
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: <code><nowiki>https://example.org/wiki/Page_title</nowiki></code> <translate><!--T:12--> This is the most common configuration, same as on Wikipedia, though not the default because it requires server-side modifications</translate>
: <code><nowiki>https://example.org/view/Page_title</nowiki></code>
: <code><nowiki>https://wiki.example.org/view/Page_title</nowiki></code>
: <code><nowiki>https://example.org/Page_title</nowiki></code> 
: <code><nowiki>https://wiki.example.org/Page_title</nowiki></code> 

<translate><!--T:136--> Some people do not recommend the last two configurations.</translate>
<translate><!--T:137--> See <tvar name=1></tvar> for potential problems and solutions.</translate>

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=== Advantages & disadvantages === <!--T:17-->

<!--T:18-->
* '''Advantage''': Short URLs hide some technical details from end-users, which can be desirable for site owners. Among other things, this means they can be kept stable when the underlying software changes.</translate> <translate><!--T:127--> (See above for the difference between MediaWiki's default URL structure with CGI enabled vs without.)</translate> <translate><!--T:19--> They are also easier to read, remember, and manipulate for visitors.</translate> <translate><!--T:20--> Additionally, short URLs offer an advantage over the default URLs for [[w:Search engine optimization|Search engine optimization]], as URLs containing <tvar name=1><code>?</code></tvar> can be treated less favorably by search engines when calculating page rank.</translate>
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<!--T:21-->
* '''Disadvantage''': Requires configuration, so, depending on the hosting environment you are using, it might be difficult to recreate.</translate> <translate><!--T:22--> However, as every widely used webserver is capable of being configured to use short URLs, most paid web hosting services should support this feature. Any host that doesn't offer you this feature is not worth your money.</translate>

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