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Direct Alias Pro

Allows you to control menu item alias and have short SEF URLs without including aliases of parent menu items. Removes menu items aliases from articles URLs leaving only single article alias.

Joomla native routing is not quite robust and you can't control how the SEF URL of menu item is built. You can only define menu item alias - a component of URL.

By default aliases of Joomla menu items are relative: aliases of all parent menu items are auto-prepended to SEF URL.

So child menu items have URLs like:

http://site.com/parent-menu-item-alias/child-menu-item-alias

This plugin allows you to switch alias to 'direct' mode and have short URL without aliases of parent menu items:

http://site.com/child-menu-item-alias

E.g. this page has URL https://alterbrains.com/direct-alias-pro instead of https://alterbrains.com/joomla-extensions/seo/direct-alias-pro.

Additionally to the functionality of Direct Alias (free extension) listed above you can remove menu items' aliases from article URLs and leave only single article alias.

So instead of http://site.com/news/34-article-alias you will get http://site.com/34-article-alias or http://site.com/article-alias if IDs are removed.

Active menu item is still identified, hence current menu item is highlighted in menu modules and modules are displayed correctly. Direct article menu items are preserved and have original native URLs unchanged.

Previous native URLs are redirected to new URLs with 301 status, hence search engines index is preserved.

Plugin adds only a single database query if a page is loaded via single article shortened URL. It's a nice and simple alternative to monstrous 3rd-party SEF extensions.

Extension information

Compatibility:

5.x maintained

4.x maintained

3.x not maintained

Type:
Commercial
License:
GNU GPL
JED:
click here
See also:
Direct Alias
Translations:
click here
Price:
$24.00

  Buy now

  • Removes parent menu items' aliases from URLs per menu item or for all menu items.
  • Removes menu items' aliases from article URLs per category or for all articles. Direct article URLs are preserved.
  • Simple code, works fast.
  • Display and highlight of menu item in menu modules is preserved.
  • Old URLs with original aliases are redirected to new URLs with 301/303/308 configurable status (this feature is missed in free version).
  • Displays custom alias modifications in backend menu items list.
  • Easy installation: just install and publish 'System - Direct Alias Pro' plugin, order it first in 'system' group of plugins, edit settings.
  • Works with Falang except menu items alias translations in 'FaLang Language Switcher' module.

Want a new feature? Why not? Please Contact Us!

  • Joomla 4.4 or higher.
  • PHP 8.1 or higher, mb_string extension.
  • Edit of other custom extensions which load Joomla routers directly can be required (note that Joomla auto-loads component routers and they should not be included directly).
  • Incompatible with Gantry5 templates, RokNavMenu module (they use none-native Joomla code).
  • Using Falang? It works! Falang database driver plugin should be ordered before this plugin under 'system' plugins group.

Current version:

  • Feature: saving a menu item with direct alias can display a warning if we have another menu item with the same computed route.

  • Fix: short routes are not applied in backend, when using article preview or accessibility check.

27 Dec 2023 - ver. 3.1.3:

  • Fix: issues with non-inherited routes in child menu items.

22 Dec 2023 -  ver. 3.1.2:

  • Fix: issues with non-inherited routes in child menu items.
  • Feature: new plugin setting "Advanced > Backend Info" displays configured alias modifications in backend menu items list.

02 Dec 2023 - ver. 3.1.1:

  • Fix: Joomla 4.4.1 and 5.0.1 language issue.
  • Fix: grandchildren of menu items with a "not inherited" alias (absent) did not receive an updated route path (many thanks to Friedemann).

18 Oct 2023 - ver. 3.1.0:

  • Feature: Joomla 5 compatibility.
  • Change: PHP 8.1 as min.

17 Aug 2023 - ver. 3.0.1:

  • Fix: issue with same-alias menu items in multilingual mode.
  • Note: if you see an error after install, please install the package one more time, nothing serious.

11 Jul 2023 - ver. 3.0.0:

  • Change: Joomla 3 support dropped.
  • Change: PHP 8.0 as min.
  • Fix: issue with non-inherited aliases.

11 Oct 2022 - ver. 2.3.0:

  • Feature: new setting "Redirect Status" to choose between 301/303/308 status for redirection of original URLs.
  • Change: default redirect status changed from 301 to 308.

16 Feb 2022 - ver. 2.2.0:

  • Fix: Joomla 4 compatibility.

01 June 2021 - ver. 2.1.1:

  • Fix: issue with short article URLs when article alias is translated via Falang.

08 September 2020 - ver. 2.1.0:

  • Feature: Joomla 4 compatibility.

09 May 2020 - ver. 2.0.1:

  • Fix: redirect from original long URLs.

10 January 2019 - ver. 2.0.0:

  • Fix: issue with shortened article URLs for multilingual websites and articles with page breaks.
  • Change: Joomla 3.9 as minimum.
  • Feature: Joomla 4 compatibility.

29 August 2018 - ver. 1.3.1:

  • Fix: shortened articles URLs on non-default language.
  • Fix: issue with shortened article URLs and multilingual websites.

24 October 2017 - ver. 1.3.0:

  • Change: Joomla 3.8 as minimum.
  • Change: PHP 5.5 as minimim.
  • Change: 'Remove Tag ID', 'Remove Content Article ID', 'Remove Content Category ID' and 'Append Content Article ID' settings removed.
  • Feature: new option to shorten article URLs in a form of http://site.com/article-alias.

18 September 2017 - ver. 1.2.0:

  • Changes for Joomla 3.8 release:
  • Change: 'Remove Tag ID' setting doesn't take affect since Joomla 3.7.0 (when it started to remove IDs from tags URLs itself).
  • Change: 'Remove Content Article ID', 'Remove Content Category ID' and 'Append Content Article ID' settings don't take affect since Joomla 3.8.0, use Articles component setting 'Remove IDs from URLs' when 'URL Routing' is Experimental.
  • Feature: previous article URLs with appended IDs are auto-redirected to new URLs with 301 status.
  • Fix: fatal error on on Joomla 3.7 with all disabled options.
  • Fix: sometimes 404 errors are not triggered on URLs like http://site.com/BAD-SEGMENT/menu-item-alias/parent-cat-alias/child-cat-alias/article-alias
  • See more details about new Joomla 3.8 routing here: https://docs.joomla.org/J3.x:New_Routing_System

12 May 2017 - ver. 1.1.6:

  • Fix: incorrect article links menu item on Joomla 3.7.

28 April 2017 - ver. 1.1.5:

  • Feature: auto-find of tags menu item for tags.
  • Feature: new setting 'Shorten All URLs' allows to remove all parent aliases for all menu items.
  • Fix: category links from 'List All Categories' menu item.
  • Fix: Joomla 3.7 compatibility.

14 March 2016 - ver. 1.1.4:

  • Feature: ability to select categories of articles to remove IDs from URLs.
  • Feature: ability to append Joomla article ID to alias in URL (for selected categories).

14 Jan 2015 - ver. 1.1.3:

  • Fix: possible issue with permanent redirect of old URL without direct alias.

20 November 2015 - ver. 1.1.2:

  • Fix: invalid routing of article page without ID if its alias is duplicated in multiple categories.
  • Fix: first word of tag alias is missed sometimes.
  • Fix: Falang compatibility.
  • Fix: wrong canonical link on tag view.

12.05.2015 - ver. 1.1.1:

  • Feature: new plugin setting 'Redirect Old URLs' helps to redirect old URLs with original aliases to new URLs with 301 status.

15.02.2015 - ver. 1.1.0:

  • Feature: improved performance for large menus.

03 December 2014 - ver. 1.0.0