bof-branding display code is generating broken links on all (423) pages of my cart.

[colorsguy]

Hello,
My site is http://thecolorsofbagleys.com/. The URL to my Zen Cart is http://thecolorsofbagleys.com/PROFISHCO/. I am using version v1.3.9h.

I've run a Site Analysis Report with Microsoft's Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager and it's showing a multitude of problems that are being created by Zen Cart. The most serious would likely be the 423 broken links this error message points to:

The Web page contains the broken link 'http://thecolorsofbagleys.com/PROFISHCO/includes/templates/profishco_default/images/'.

being generate by the bof-branding display code that points to my logo image found here:

http://thecolorsofbagleys.com/PROFIS...tpl_header.php

and here:

http://thecolorsofbagleys.com/PROFIS...tpl_header.php

starting on line 68. I believe this is the code causing the problem:

<!--bof-branding display-->
<div id="logoWrapper">
<div id="logo"><?php echo '<a href="http://thecolorsofbagleys.com">'.zen_image($template->get_template_dir(HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE, DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'images'). '/' . HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE, HEADER_ALT_TEXT) . '</a>'; ?></div>

If tried replacing 'images' with 'images/thecolorsofbagleys10.png' but a link to images/thecolorsofbagleys10.png/ is then created which is also a broken link.

Next I tried taking the (. '/') out of the code thinking it was what was generating the unwanted forward slash but it didn't stop the forward slash from being added on. The page and logo still displayed properly however.

Finally I tried taking (. '/' .) out of the code, but none of the pages on my site would then display, and I get an error message when I try to access them.

I'm completely at a loss how to fix this problem, and I realize I might be completely off track tinkering with the code, but there is little doubt 423 broken links is going to be a huge drag on rankings for any site, and I had to try something. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike Metzler
The Colors of Bagley's
http://thecolorsofbagleys.com/

[kobra]

Why have you altered the stock code?

<!--bof-branding display-->
<div id="logoWrapper">
<div id="logo"><?php echo '<a href="http://thecolorsofbagleys.com">'.zen_image($template->get_template_dir(HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE, DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'images'). '/' . HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE, HEADER_ALT_TEXT) . '</a>'; ?></div>

It should be

<!--bof-branding display-->
<div id="logoWrapper">
    <div id="logo"><?php echo '<a href="' . HTTP_SERVER . DIR_WS_CATALOG . '">' . zen_image($template->get_template_dir(HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE, DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'images'). '/' . HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE, HEADER_ALT_TEXT) . '</a>'; ?></div>
<?php if (HEADER_SALES_TEXT != '' || (SHOW_BANNERS_GROUP_SET2 != '' && $banner = zen_banner_exists('dynamic', SHOW_BANNERS_GROUP_SET2))) { ?>
    <div id="taglineWrapper">
<?php
              if (HEADER_SALES_TEXT != '') {
?>

[colorsguy]

I kept tinkering with the code until I was able to fix the problem. Here is the code that doesn't spit out broken links to my site logo:

<!--bof-branding display-->
<div id="logoWrapper">
<div id="logo"><?php echo '<a href="http://thecolorsofbagleys.com">'.zen_image($template->get_template_dir(HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE, DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'images/thecolorsofbagleys10.png'). '' . HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE, HEADER_ALT_TEXT) . '</a>'; ?></div>

I added the file name of the logo image which resides in the "image" directory referenced in the line of code. I then deleted the forward slash between this part of the code: . '/' . so it now looks like this . '' .

Apparently that code was dynamically generating the forward slash.

I've rerun a Site Analysis Report with Microsoft's Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager and the 423 broken links are now fixed. Now I need to address the 990 unnecessary redirects that are somehow being generated. I guess I should start another thread for that problem

I hope this has been of some use to someone else.

Mike

[colorsguy]

Why have you altered the stock code?

<!--bof-branding display-->
<div id="logoWrapper">
<div id="logo"><?php echo '<a href="http://thecolorsofbagleys.com">'.zen_image($template->get_template_dir(HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE, DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'images'). '/' . HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE, HEADER_ALT_TEXT) . '</a>'; ?></div>

It should be

<!--bof-branding display-->
<div id="logoWrapper">
    <div id="logo"><?php echo '<a href="' . HTTP_SERVER . DIR_WS_CATALOG . '">' . zen_image($template->get_template_dir(HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE, DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'images'). '/' . HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE, HEADER_ALT_TEXT) . '</a>'; ?></div>
<?php if (HEADER_SALES_TEXT != '' || (SHOW_BANNERS_GROUP_SET2 != '' && $banner = zen_banner_exists('dynamic', SHOW_BANNERS_GROUP_SET2))) { ?>
    <div id="taglineWrapper">
<?php
              if (HEADER_SALES_TEXT != '') {
?>

kobra,
It's hard to say since it's been at least a couple of years since I set up the cart. I can only guess it was from following an online tutorial on adding my site logo to the cart, or it might have been because of info I found in a book I purchased online to help me set the program up. I do know I would never take out this line of code (. HTTP_SERVER . DIR_WS_CATALOG . '">') on my own. I have taught myself everything about building websites through reverse engineering and online tutorials, but taking a chunk of code out like would seem a bit suicidal to me.
Mike

[DrByte]

No, your problem was that in your language file you set the define for HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE to blank, thus causing all the broken links. Better to have left the tpl_header file alone, and just fix the language file to have the correct image filename defined.

[colorsguy]

No, your problem was that in your language file you set the define for HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE to blank, thus causing all the broken links. Better to have left the tpl_header file alone, and just fix the language file to have the correct image filename defined.

My hack seems to be working without causing any problems, so I guess I'm going to leave well enough alone for the time being. I could definitely use some help on some of the other problems Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager is finding though. Like this warning I'm getting 143 times:

The redirection response results in another redirection.

here is an example IIS is giving me:

The link to "http://thecolorsofbagleys.com/PROFISHCO/tell_a_friend/bagley-d5s-frg" has resulted in a redirection to "http://thecolorsofbagleys.com/PROFISHCO/login" which resulted in another redirection. Search engines can only pass page rankings and other relevant data through a single redirection hop. Using unnecessary redirects can have a negative impact on page ranking.

Tell a friend was causing some other errors so I disabled it. Zen Cart's default action is to redirect to the login page, which is what they tell you will happen if you cut the feature off. I'm in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation here because I get errors if the feature is cut on, and also if I cut if off.

I'm also getting 837 unnecessary redirect warnings like this one:

The link to "http://thecolorsofbagleys.com/PROFISHCO/login" has resulted in HTTP redirection to "http://thecolorsofbagleys.com/PROFISHCO/cookie_usage".
Search engines can only pass page rankings and other relevant data through a single redirection hop. Using unnecessary redirects can have a negative impact on page ranking.

Is there any way to clean up the redirects?

Thanks for everyone's time!
Mike

[stevesh]

One way would be to upgrade to version 1.5.1, from which the Tell-A-Friend function was removed.

[colorsguy]

One way would be to upgrade to version 1.5.1, from which the Tell-A-Friend function was removed.

Now that's a scary thought, thinking about transferring my hacks to a new version ;)

[colorsguy]

One way would be to upgrade to version 1.5.1, from which the Tell-A-Friend function was removed.

I was able to find this advice from clydejones that fixed my "tell a friend" problem:

Re: remove "review product" and "tell a freind" buttons

Turn them off in:

admin -> catalog -> product types -> product general (click the edit layout button and turn them off set to 0)

When there is no button, there is no redirect. This got rid of 285 of my errors.

Mike

[DrByte]

Sounds like something amuck with your URL-rewriting customizations.
Zen Cart 1.3.9 doesn't generate URLs that look like ..../PROFISHCO/login or ..../PROFISHCO/tell_a_friend/bagley-d5s-frg

When suffering from redirections taking you in circles, turning off the redirecting stuff is the first place to start until you sort out the why. And sometimes the bug is actually in the redirect/rewrite customizations. Quite often actually.