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https://github.com/cmb69/moved_xh

Improved UX for renamed and removed CMSimple_XH pages
https://github.com/cmb69/moved_xh

cmsimple-xh

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Improved UX for renamed and removed CMSimple_XH pages

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README 

        
# Moved_XH



Moved_XH facilitates to cater to pages which have been renamed. Direkt links

to those pages will normally result in a 404 Page Not Found error, but

Moved_XH makes it possible to redirect incoming requests to another page or

to flag them as gone. Appropriate information is returned that informs bots

about the change, what is particularly important regarding search engines,

which can change the URL of the page and remove it from the index respectively.



- [Requirements](#requirements)

- [Download](#download)

- [Installation](#installation)

- [Settings](#settings)

- [Usage](#usage)

  - [Redirects](#redirects)

  - [Gone](#gone)

  - [Placeholders](#placeholders)

- [Limitations](#limitations)

- [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)

- [License](#license)

- [Credits](#credits)



## Requirements



Moved_XH is a plugin for [CMSimple_XH](https://www.cmsimple-xh.org/).

It requires CMSimple_XH ≥ 1.7.0, and PHP ≥ 7.1.0.



## Download



The [lastest release](https://github.com/cmb69/moved_xh/releases/latest)

is available for download on Github.



## Installation



The installation is done as with many other CMSimple\_XH plugins. See the

[CMSimple_XH Wiki](https://wiki.cmsimple-xh.org/?for-users/working-with-the-cms/plugins#id3_install-plugin)

for further details.



1. **Backup the data on your server.**

1. Unzip the distribution on your computer.

1. Upload the whole directory `moved/` to your server into the `plugins/`

   directory of CMSimple_XH.

1. Set write permissions to the subfolders `css/` and `languages/`.

1. Navigate to `Plugins` → `Moved` to check if all requirements are

   fulfilled.



## Settings



The configuration of the plugin is done as with many other CMSimple_XH plugins

in the back-end of the Website. Select `Plugins` → `Moved`.



Localization is done under `Language`. You can translate the character

strings to your own language if there is no appropriate language file available,

or customize them according to your needs.



The look of Moved_XH can be customized under `Stylesheet`.



## Usage



Moved_XH stores its data separately for each language of the CMSimple_XH

installation in a file `moved.txt` in the respective `content/` folder.

Incoming requests to pages that do not exist and have no rule

in `moved.txt` are logged in the log file of CMSimple_XH.

The description of the log entry contains the requested page and

the referrer, if known.



The rules can be edited in the plugin administration under `Main Settings`.

Each line of the file constitutes a rule. Rules consist of one

or two so called *page URL*s. Technically speaking, a *page URL*

is the name of the first parameter of the query string, i.e.

everything between the question mark (`?`) and the first

ampersand (`&`) resp. the end of the URL, if there is no

ampersand. It is recommended to copy the *page URL*s from the address

bar of the browser instead of entering them manually, because there will be

some surprises. For instance, the *page URL* of the fictious page

[Fahrvergnügen](https://www.example.com/?Fahrvergn%C3%BCgen) is

`Fahrvergn%C3%BCgen` and not `Fahrvergnügen` as one might expect.



There are two different types of rules:



### Redirects



Redirect rules will redirect incoming requests for an old *page URL* to

a new *page URL* or an external URL (which has to be fully qualified,

i.e. starting with the protocol, e.g. `https://`). Both URLs are

seperated by an equal sign (`=`).



Some examples:



You are restructuring your site and want to move the toplevel page

*Oaks* to the second level below *Trees*, so add the following rule:



    Oaks=Trees/Oaks



You have moved the page *Oaks* to another CMSimple_XH installation,

so add the following rule:



    Oaks=https://www.example.com/trees/?Oaks



You have upgraded from an *ISO-8859-1* encoded CMSimple version

to a *UTF-8* encoded CMSimple_XH installation, and you have a

page *Fahrvergnügen*, so add the following rule:



    Fahrverg%FCgen=Fahrvergn%C3%BCgen



### Gone



Gone rules will inform visitors that a page does no longer exists.

They consist of the *page URL* of the removed page.



For example, if you have removed the page *Temporary Information*

because it is no longer needed, so add the following rule:



    Temporary_Information



### Placeholders



The old *page URL* of the rules may contain placeholders, where a

`*` matches an arbitrary amount of characters and `?`

matches a single character.  Only the first matching rule will ever be used;

others will simply be ignored for the request.  Placeholders do not offer any

new features, but are rather meant to avoid repetitions of similar rules.

For example:



You have removed the pages *Temporary Information 1* and *Temporary Information 2*,

because they are no longer needed, so you could add the following rules:



    Temporary_Information_1

    Temporary_Information_2



By using placeholders, you can simplify, though:



    Temporary_Information_?



It is also possible to use whatever has been matched by a placeholder in the

new *Page URL* of a redirect rule (i.e. on the right hand side of the

equal sign).  This is done with variables of the form `$1`,

`$2` … `$9`, where `$1` matches the first placeholder,

`$2` the second, and so forth.



For example, you are restructuring your site and want to move the toplevel page

*Oaks* to the second level below *Trees*, where *Oaks* already has three subpages.

You could add the following rules:



    Oaks:White_Oak=Trees:Oaks:White_Oak

    Oaks:Blackjack_Oak=Trees:Oaks:Blackjack_Oak

    Oaks:Blue_Oak=Trees:Oaks:Blue_Oak



By using a placeholder, you can simplify, though:



    Oaks:*=Trees:Oaks:$1



## Limitations



Moved_XH uses the

[`custom_404()` hook](https://wiki.cmsimple-xh.org/?tips-and-tricks/custom-404-page&search=custom+404),

so it does not work if the hook is already defined. The system check reports

whether there is a problem, and in which file the `custom_404()` hook is defined.

Either uninstall Moved_XH or remove the existing `custom_404()` hook.



Moved_XH's rules do not work when you are logged in to the CMSimple_XH

installation, as the `custom_404()` hook funktion is not called

by CMSimple_XH in this case. If you want to test the rules without logging

out, you have to use a second browser.



## Troubleshooting



Report bugs and ask for support either on [Github](https://github.com/cmb69/moved_xh/issues)

or in the [CMSimple_XH Forum](https://cmsimpleforum.com/).



## License



Moved_XH is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify

it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by

the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or

(at your option) any later version.



Moved_XH is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,

but *without any warranty*; without even the implied warranty of

*merchantibility* or *fitness for a particular purpose*.  See the

GNU General Public License for more details.



You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License

along with Moved_XH.  If not, see .



© 2013-2023 Christoph M. Becker



## Credits



The plugin logo is designed by [World Media Group LLC](https://www.mymovingreviews.com/).

Many thanks for publishing this icon under a liberal license.



Many thanks to the community at the [CMSimple_XH Forum](https://www.cmsimpleforum.com/)

for tips, suggestions and testing.



And last but not least many thanks to [Peter Harteg](https://www.harteg.dk/),

the “father” of CMSimple, and all developers of [CMSimple_XH](https://www.cmsimple-xh.org/)

without whom this amazing CMS would not exist.