<embed> Vanilla Redirect

maroonlover

I like the fact that the Embed Vanilla plugin allows for redirection to the page in which the forum is embedded, but is there a way to make this a 301 redirect so it doesn't load the full forum page first before redirecting the user? It just seems glitchy when a user sees that and I would prefer search engines document that URL at the embedded page.

Thanks!
Ben

Todd

Nope. It isn't possible, and here's why:

1. The embedded page is just a page too. It doesn't know it is or isn't embedded until it is loaded into the browser. That's why its a browser redirect.
2. If a search engine were to go to the parent page instead of child page then it would find exactly zero of your embedded content because the embed uses javascript and an iframe.

I tell a lot of people this: If you care about SEO and/or are planning on having a larger community then you need to bite the bullet and make a theme for your forum. Embedding is for simple forums.

Todd

Nope. It isn't possible, and here's why:

1. The embedded page is just a page too. It doesn't know it is or isn't embedded until it is loaded into the browser. That's why its a browser redirect.
2. If a search engine were to go to the parent page instead of child page then it would find exactly zero of your embedded content because the embed uses javascript and an iframe.

I tell a lot of people this: If you care about SEO and/or are planning on having a larger community then you need to bite the bullet and make a theme for your forum. Embedding is for simple forums.

maroonlover

Damn, oh well... Now to integrate it with ModX, wish me luck, my PHP experience is minimal OY!

Todd

Vanilla has a very powerful theming engine. I really recommend you start with the default smarty theme and go from there. You need to edit one html template (smarty) and one custom.css file. Done.

maroonlover

And mobile compatability ? I know the standard embedded theme is great with Jquery Mobile. I may just end up leaving it as it is and do theming if the community grows large enough. It's hard to say it will as the forums are an auxiliary part of another site and may be best handled with an agreement with existing forum owners for a specific section. www.omca2012.org/forums

Todd

Mobile uses a different theme altogether. We usually use that one as is and don't theme it, but you can copy the mobile theme and edit it's custom.css for simple colour changes if you wish.

If you do use a different mobile theme then you need to add the following config setting:

$Configuration['Garden']['MobileTheme'] = 'your mobile theme name';

maroonlover

OH so it has built in mobile detection! God I love this software, I learn more things about I like every day Beats phpbb ANY day, that was a nightmare to work with. Well thanks, seriously, you guys respond really quickly and don't give a newbie a hard time.

Todd

We love people that want to add stuff to our software.

The last thing that may trip you up when theming is your about.php file. You need to supply information about your theme and a lot of people get tripped up by not doing this correctly. Have a look at this documentation.

maroonlover

Damn your helpful lol

422

The beauty of vanilla, is its not a find and replace system. Thats the lerning curve a lot of ppl inc me ! Struggled to get to grips with.

If it was a car you were modding, pimping .. To get a new paint job, you rub it all down, strip it back and re paint it.

But vanilla is smarter, in fact all you do is create comparative method and it intuitively, finds and uses that method... Its extremely clever.. So read the docs, and get to grips with whole....

Pimp-my-vanilla , system.... Its cool.

maroonlover

I just took a look at how to theme Vanilla, it's so simple and logical! I'm gona have a blast making themes! Great, now I have another obsession on top of ModX and SEO lol

Todd

If you want to start a post on SEO I'd very much appreciate it. We are always trying to improve the SEO in our app. I've stayed up many nights with google webmaster tools and my IDE open.

Giving your top three tips would be a great contribution.

maroonlover

Ohhh now that is more easier said than done. I will see if I can put something together but it's usually pretty basic, I tend to go overboard. Really, just make sure you have a sitemap listing at least your category pages, preferably with priority set. Other then that, I will put something together more in depth.