Ultimate SEO v3 (and v2.200) [Support Thread]

Hi, This is my first post, and I am new to Zen Cart, so here goes...I am using Zen version 1.50. I installed this version 10/23/12, and have only added one module..Image Handler 4. I have turned off may of the default banners, and only modified the size of the main page, so when I added Ultimate SEO 2.211, I figured I could just install it as is without merging any files. I followed the steps as listed in the instructions, being sure to use the "1_affected_files_150", and then the remaining files 2_new_files, 3_htaccess and 4_install. In the admin I saw the install successful message, and here are the current settings in the admin: I used FileZilla to transfer the files from my home computer
###############################################################################_
Ultimate SEO

Title Value Action
Ultimate SEO Version 2.211
Enable SEO URLs? true
Generate cPath parameters off
Rewritten URLs end with .html
Format of rewritten URLs original
Categories as directories short
Enter PCRE filter rules for generated URLs
Enter special character conversions
Remove all non-alphanumeric characters? special
Filter Short Words 0
Enter pages to allow rewrite
Choose URL Rewrite Type rewrite
Enable automatic redirects? false
Enable SEO cache to save queries? true
Enable product cache? true
Enable categories cache? true
Enable manufacturers cache? true
Enable ez pages cache? true
Reset SEO URLs Cache false
################################################################################ ######################################################################___

Below is the is the current .htaccess file.

###############################################################################
# Common directives
###############################################################################
# NOTE: Replace /shop/ with the relative web path of your catalog in the "Rewrite Base" line below:

# For security reasons, Option followsymlinks cannot be overridden.
#Options +FollowSymLinks
Options +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /thewoodsmithcarvings/

###############################################################################
# Start Ultimate SEO URLs
###############################################################################

# Handles the new URL formats
RewriteRule ^(.*)-c-([0-9_]+)/(.*)-p-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=$4&cPath=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-c-([0-9_]+)/(.*)-pi-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=$4&cPath=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-c-([0-9_]+)/(.*)-pr-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=product_reviews&products_id=$4&cPath=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-c-([0-9_]+)/(.*)-pri-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=product_reviews_info&products_id=$4&cPath=$2&%{QUERY_STRING } [L]

# Original (unchanged) URL formats
RewriteRule ^(.*)-p-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-m-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-pi-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-pr-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=product_reviews&products_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-pri-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=product_reviews_info&products_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-ezp-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=page&id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-c-([0-9_]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=index&cPath=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]

# All other pages
# Don't rewrite real files or directories
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=$1&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]

################################################################################ ##############################
I don't know what the problem is, but my urls aren't being rewritten. Here is my site url www.thewoodsmithcarvings.com . I have noticed after the main url I get two forward slashes "//" after the .com, when choosing a category and product. I have read through the thred, and haven't found anything specific to this problem. My host is Hostmonster.Another issue is I don't seem to have an error log with this site. This site is an add-on, so it was installed under the public_html directory, and the only error.log file is under the public_html directory, and none under thewoodsmithcarvings directory. I currently have a ticket created with my host to find out if there are any issues with them, but haven't heard anything yet. I hope you can help, and I hope it's something obvious to you, and an easy fix. Crossing my fingers. Thanks in advance!!!

if your cart is installed into your root directory, your htaccess should be adjusted to the following:

RewriteBase /

rather than what you have above which is:
RewriteBase /thewoodsmithcarvings/

(which would indicate that your shop is installed to a subdirectory called thewoodsmithcarvings)

Thanks woodlandsprite, Yes. That is correct. It is in a subdirectory. Could this be why it isn't rewritting the urls? I am attempting to build this site in the sub directory, with the intent to move it to a root directory when it is finished.

Is there any reason you are installing 2.121 instead of 2.212? Are there any debug files (check in your cache folder for Zen Cart 1.5.0 / log folder for Zen Cart 1.5.1)?

1) You say you are "building" the site in a subdirectory? The root of your website looks like a Zen Cart installation... And there is an extra "/"'s in the Zen Cart URLs... You will want to check your configure.php files. This typically indicates an extra "/" somewhere in that file.

2) This installation on the root of your site also appears to not be configured to issue a 404 for invalid pages and again shows a 500 error... which may indicate an issue with your webserver environment or your .htaccess file. You will need to look in your server logs to see what is causing this error.

3) The installation for "Ultimate SEO URLs" does not do a full check to see if files are correctly uploaded, the contents of the files are valid, or any necessary merges have been done. From the behavior you are seeing I venture something may have been missed when installing "Ultimate SEO URLs" - probably one of the html_output file changes. Once you have addressed 1 & 2 above, download version 2.212 and redo the installation completely (one step at a time).

Hi

I really am having problems upgrading my website: It does work fine, but after a couple of hours it completely disappears.

The other add-ons on my website are,

Easy populate,
Sitemap XML,
Google Merchant Center Feeder
Additional Product Images
Ultimate SEO Urls

I drew the conclusion that there is a problem with the SEO URLs as The logs file comes up with this

Quote:

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[16-Dec-2012 13:03:12 Europe/London] PHP Fatal error: Class 'SEO_URL' not found in /home/username/root/Tempfolder/includes/autoload_func.php on line 79

---

I have tried to uninstall the plugin but the affected folders I am stuck on. Last time I modified them I modified too much and ended up with errors anyway.

The conflicting files are:

includes/classes/query_cache.php
includes/functions/html_output.php
admin/categories.php
admin/product.php
admin/includes/functions/html_output.php

Test site is meant to be here: http://shaftdirect.com/temp12/

Please could anyone advise what I need to change on these files to uninstall the plugin and therefore resolve the conflict? I have also tried to switch off the SEO URLs function prior to upgrading but it makes no difference.

Please could anyone help? Any help would be gratefully received.

What version of Zen Cart are you upgrading to and from? What steps have been taken?
What version of "Ultimate SEO URLs" was previously installed? What version are you trying to install?
When you say "disappeared" do you mean you get a blank page? Or an error message? Or a 404 Not Found?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dharrison

]I really am having problems upgrading my website: It does work fine, but after a couple of hours it completely disappears. I drew the conclusion that there is a problem with the SEO URLs as The logs file comes up with this

---

Correct, this indicates there is a problem with your installation of "Ultimate SEO URLs". Usually this indicates some files were missed when you installed (or upgraded) the plugin. This is not a problem caused by "Ultimate SEO URLs". What the error message you specified tells you is Zen Cart cannot find the "SEO_URL" class.

If this did not originally occur and just started happening by itself (nothing was changed by you) after a couple hours I would be very concerned about your site being hacked or your hosting provider having some difficulties with their storage.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dharrison

I have tried to uninstall the plugin but the affected folders I am stuck on. Last time I modified them I modified too much and ended up with errors anyway.

---

It might be faster for you to start over with clean files from the version of Zen Cart you are upgrading to. If you use a VCS you can just revert back your changes. Otherwise you will need to use a tool such as WinMerge or Beyond Compare and manually look through the files to see what is different and undo anything you changed.

If the version of "Ultimate SEO URLs" installed was newer than 2.200 the readme file contains instructions on uninstalling the plugin. Keep in mind the uninstallers in more recent versions will not remove files - only cleanup the database entries - and are not intended for installs prior to 2.200.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dharrison

Please could anyone help? Any help would be gratefully received.

---

If you are attempting to upgrade from an older version of Zen Cart to a newer version, the easiest way is to just install the new version in a new location with a new clean database. Do not copy or leave files from the old version. Once installed, copy the data from your old database to the new database using phpmyadmin or similar. Run the zc_install script again, this time choosing to only upgrade the database. Verify the site is functional. Install (only compatible) plugins one at a time. Verify site is working after each plugin is installed and configured. Last add your theme and any other needed customizations.

Doing it this way instead of starting with the old site and overwriting files with the new ones will save alot of time and hassle during the upgrade. This is not a full list of how to upgrade, there are instructions which come with Zen Cart and also an excellent article on the wiki. The above are just a short list of steps in order based upon my experiences upgrading a couple sites from Zen Cart 1.3.8 to 1.3.9 to 1.5.0 to 1.5.1.

If I might jump in: I am a big fan of doing zencart upgrades via a fresh install. In fact, that is the only way I now do upgrades. Then I do the Database upgrade, as Inhungil mentioned (although once I just began again with a new DB.) Fresh installs seem more reliable to me. Also, allows me to re-think my plugins. Also seems faster than trying to winmerge and compare a bunch of files.

But, after doing my fresh install upgrade, the very first plugin I install is DrByte's Database backup/restore plugin. It's fantastic, allowing backups and, if necessary, immediate db restorations...and all from your zencart admin. I use it before anything that might affect the database when upgrading and installing plugins. I also use it before every easypopulate product upload, just in case.*

If you're not already using it you can get it here. Note there may be some server restrictions. Also, I had a problem once when my DB password had, or began, with special characters:

http://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=7

However, instead of installing my theme/template last, the template would normally be my second plugin. That's because many other plugins are template specific, having to be assigned to the template.

My third plugin would normally be Ultimate SEO.

But whatever works. :)

*All Easypopulates we use work, now primarily using Easypopulate 4. But occasionally we might make an error in the spreadsheet...operator error. A quick DB restore from admin can fix that back to square one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SPH

... The very first plugin I install is DrByte's Database backup/restore plugin. It's fantastic, allowing backups and, if necessary, immediate db restorations...and all from your zencart admin. I use it before anything that might affect the database when upgrading and installing plugins. I also use it before every easypopulate product upload, just in case.

---

Always a good idea - and saves time if something goes awry in the database during the installation of a plugin or template. Sleepy lhungil = forgetting a time saver. Thanks SPH!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SPH

However, instead of installing my theme/template last, the template would normally be my second plugin. That's because many other plugins are template specific, having to be assigned to the template.

---

One of these days I need to stop writing templates from scratch. I have my reasons, but would be very off topic. I'll defer to SPH on this one (granted you are installing a pre-built template for Zen Cart >= 1.50 which includes Zen Cart plugins).

Thanks lhungil and SPH I shall give this a try. :smile:

You're welcome. Also, you might want to practice on a test site. I have a couple of test/secondary sites that I use for this purpose.

I installed this mod on my v150 a couple of days ago and have a couple of issues now. The install went great and it is working but now when I click on the contact us tab or the links in the footer menu except useful links it comes back with a 404 error along with the site map. Checked with my hosting company and they could not find the problem. These links were working before I installed this mod. Any ideas or questions?

Thanks,
Coucho

Quote:

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Originally Posted by coucho

I installed this mod on my v150 a couple of days ago and have a couple of issues now. The install went great and it is working but now when I click on the contact us tab or the links in the footer menu except useful links it comes back with a 404 error along with the site map. Checked with my hosting company and they could not find the problem. These links were working before I installed this mod. Any ideas or questions?

Thanks,
Coucho

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This is a general question, I was looking through the instructions and have no difficulty with any of the steps except step #3.

3. A sample .htaccess file is included. Edit
"3_htaccess/.htaccess" to match your web server's
environment. Pay particular attention to the
"RewriteBase" line. Make sure your server does not have
"MultiViews" enabled (rare).

If you have an existing .htaccess file in the folder
where you installed Zen Cart merge the new .htaccess
file with the existing file (remember rules are matched
in order, so any custom URL transformations or
redirects should appear before the "Start Ultimate
SEO URLs" block. Upload the .htaccess file to the
folder where you installed Zen Cart.


I have no idea what any of this means. More specifically, Can someone please explain in simpler terms for me. I have opened the "3_htaccess" file and it is empty... How do I make this match my web servers environment? What is a rewrite base line? How can I check if I have multiviews enabled?

Thanks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by coucho

... when I click on the contact us tab or the links in the footer menu except useful links it comes back with a 404 error ...

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Hard to say without further information. What is the address the contact us tab points to? What version of "Ultimate SEO URLs" was installed? What do you have in your .htaccess file? Can you give us a link to the website where this error is being experienced?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by curlydan

I have opened the "3_htaccess" file and it is empty...

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The folder is not empty it contains a file named ".htaccess". If you are on an apple computer or linux computer you need to have "show files starting with a dot" enabled. By default these files are hidden on *nix and apple based computers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by curlydan

How do I make this match my web servers environment?

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Depends on your environment. For most *nix based operating systems (running Apache2) all you need to do is update the RewriteBase directive. For windows based environments you need to use an ISAPI .htaccess filter or convert the rules to a web.config for IIS7+.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by curlydan

How can I check if I have multiviews enabled?

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This is rare for most hosting providers to enable by default. You can ask your provider if you run into problems.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lhungil

The folder is not empty it contains a file named ".htaccess". If you are on an apple computer or linux computer you need to have "show files starting with a dot" enabled. By default these files are hidden on *nix and apple based computers.


Depends on your environment. For most *nix based operating systems (running Apache2) all you need to do is update the RewriteBase directive. For windows based environments you need to use an ISAPI .htaccess filter or convert the rules to a web.config for IIS7+.


This is rare for most hosting providers to enable by default. You can ask your provider if you run into problems.

---

Originally Posted by curlydan
I have opened the "3_htaccess" file and it is empty...
The folder is not empty it contains a file named ".htaccess". If you are on an apple computer or linux computer you need to have "show files starting with a dot" enabled. By default these files are hidden on *nix and apple based computers.

Originally Posted by curlydan
How do I make this match my web servers environment?
Depends on your environment. For most *nix based operating systems (running Apache2) all you need to do is update the RewriteBase directive. For windows based environments you need to use an ISAPI .htaccess filter or convert the rules to a web.config for IIS7+.




Thanks for your response. It was very detailed. I will look in to how to show these hidden files as I am using a mac computer.

I am still unsure how to match my web servers environment. How do I find out what environment I have? That would be the first step. I have no idea what "all you need to do is update the RewriteBase directive." means. Perhaps I can ask my host company to do this? I have hostpapa account.

Lastly, I have an existing .htaccess file in the folder where you installed Zen Cart. How can I merge the new .htaccess file with the existing file? The file is dated on the day I installed my zencart so it has never been touched.

Thanks and happy holidays

Quote:

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Originally Posted by curlydan

How do I find out what environment I have? That would be the first step.

---

The most important pieces of the environment you will want to know for installing this module are:
Windows or Linux hosting? (phpinfo, hosting provider)
Does the web server allow .htaccess files and RewriteEngine / RewriteRule? (phpinfo, hosting provider)
What URL do you use to access Zen Cart? (browser, phpinfo, Zen Cart configure.php)
Where is your Zen Cart installed on the server (FTP, phpinfo, Zen Cart configure.php)

When you log into the admin for Zen Cart, you can click on "version" (upper right). This will output information about Zen Cart and also the results of "phpinfo()" which contain information about your webserver's PHP environment. If you have additional questions the company hosting your website can probably give you any additional information.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by curlydan

I am still unsure how to match my web servers environment. I have no idea what "all you need to do is update the RewriteBase directive." means. Perhaps I can ask my host company to do this? I have hostpapa account.

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This will make more sense after you configure your computer so you can look at the ".htaccess" included in the downloaded zip file. If you want, you can read more about Apache mod_rewrite. This is not typically something your hosting provider configures... but I suppose if you want you could ask.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by curlydan

Lastly, I have an existing .htaccess file in the folder where you installed Zen Cart. How can I merge the new .htaccess file with the existing file? The file is dated on the day I installed my zencart so it has never been touched.

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Zen Cart does not ship with a .htaccess file in the installation directory. Nor does it install one in the installation directory by default. How did you install Zen Cart?

It all depends on what is in the ".htaccess" file. Basically ".htaccess" files allow one to change web server configuration options without directly editing the master or main web server configuration files. There are alot of things one can change in a .htaccess file so there is no "one size fits all". You can probably post the ".htaccess" file on here (or PM privately) for more help if needed.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!

P.S. I am going to be fairly busy during the holidays, so will take awhile for me to respond.

Hi I am a new user of Ultimate SEO URLs. I install it on a Zen Cart v1.5.1 and after that when I login the admin page I can only see the "Configuration" in it and all other menus are just gone. Any ideas?
Attachment 11750

Hello,
I try to find a solution for link in back button, the link is to page not found (http://www.example.com/index.php?mai...page_not_found)
I use the latest version for Ultimate SEO

i use 1.51 version

How to fix this?
Any ideas.

Thanks,

George

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gpone12

Hello,
I try to find a solution for link in back button, the link is to page not found (http://www.example.com/index.php?mai...page_not_found)
I use the latest version for Ultimate SEO

i use 1.51 version

How to fix this?
Any ideas.

Thanks,

George

---

It would help more if you gave a link or non-linked text address to your site, so we can see what is going on.

But if you mean that your "Back Button" at the bottom of pages like Contact Us do not work, see this post:

http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.p...ix#post1156227

This post leads to another post where there is a fix that worked for me. Here is the post with the fix:

http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.p...gation-history

As I recall, I used the fix in post no. 1.

Hope it works for you.

After installing this my main page does not work anymore. I had some java script on there to slide four images and to show the cookie notice for the EU. Any ideas how to fix this?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kenmax

Hi I am a new user of Ultimate SEO URLs. I install it on a Zen Cart v1.5.1 and after that when I login the admin page I can only see the "Configuration" in it and all other menus are just gone. Any ideas?

---

Usually indicates something not installed correctly in the admin interface -- typically during a merge. The starting point is (the same as debugging most other issues in Zen Cart) to look for any debug files...

Also scroll up when submitting a reply, and provide the information requested along with what version you installed, if it was an upgrade from a previous version, anything different from a "clean" installation of Zen Cart, etc.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bobo01

After installing this my main page does not work anymore. I had some java script on there to slide four images and to show the cookie notice for the EU. Any ideas how to fix this?

---

You may want to start by describing exactly what is happening. We are unable to determine what behavior you are seeing (and feel does not work) unless you can tell us what on your main page does not work.

Also scroll up when submitting a reply, and provide the information requested along with what version you installed, if it was an upgrade from a previous version, anything different from a "clean" installation of Zen Cart, a link to your site, any debug log files, etc.

Yes I upgraded the system from 1.3.9h to 1.5.1, I tried to copy the files from Ultimate SEO one by one and after I copied general.php to admin page\includes\functions, the same problem happened. All items except "Configuration" on the menu bar was gone. Yes I think you are right, it indicates something not installed correctly in the admin interface during a merge. I am using 1.5.1 but I am still using the old admin page. I just have no idea of how to merge the old admin page with the new one. Should I just overwrite the old file with the new one?

Problem solved. I just renamed the admin folder to the original name of my admin folder after upgraded from 1.3.9h to 1.5.1 and reinstall Ultimates SEO URLs again. It work perfectly now. Thanks lhungil!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kenmax

Problem solved. I just renamed the admin folder to the original name of my admin folder after upgraded from 1.3.9h to 1.5.1 and reinstall Ultimates SEO URLs again. It work perfectly now. Thanks lhungil!

---

Glad you found the problem with the installation. Another peice of the puzzle you may want to check is the admin configure.php. Thank You for reporting back!

In Zen Cart 1.5.x the admin configure.php is very different from the one from 1.3.x. The Zen Cart upgrade script will not completely update the old admin configure.php to the new admin configure.php... And consequently will break things if you later move the admin folder unless you hand edit the contents of the admin configure.php... If you have not compared your current admin configure.php to one generated by a clean Zen Cart installation, you may wish to check what has changed.

Is there a "Recommended, Step by Step, Sequential order" to follow when installing Add-ons ?

I absolutely need these addons

1. Column layout grid
2. CSS Buttons
3. Fast & Easy Checkout
4. Sales Report
5. Easy Populate
6. Ultimate Seo

When I installed my last add-on (Ultimate Seo) installation, the /includes/functions/html_output.php was overwritten and now a blank page is showing up after hitting checkout ...

I removed "Ultimate Seo" and restored the original html_output.php file but the error is still there ...

Also does anyone know if Ultimate-SEO causes any conflict with any other addon, (especially CSS-Button addon) ? Because after installing Ultimate-SEO addon, my CSS Buttons disappeared.

I read somewhere that someone merged html_output.php in the CSS-Button addon with html_output.php in Ultimate-SEO addon. Does any one know how to merge these files ?

BTW, I am using Zencart v1.5.0 with with Ultimate-SEO v2.212

Quote:

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I read somewhere that someone merged html_output.php in the CSS-Button addon with html_output.php in Ultimate-SEO addon.

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A basic rule of installing addons is to be sure that a new addon does not use files that any existing addon has created or modified. You need to check every file in the new mod's list with your existing store files to see if there is any duplication. If there is, you need to merge the two modified files. This can be a three-step process if the modifications are not simple and crystal-clearly identified:
(First save copies of all files concerned in a safe place so you have backups.)

Compare the first mod file version with the stock file version. Take notes of all differences and line numbers/context.

Compare the second mod file version with the stock file version. Take notes of all differences and line numbers/context.

Compare the first mod file version with the second mod file version. Decide on one of those to be the final copy, and put the changes from the other into that one. Add comments where appropriate so you will know what you did if you need to go back to it later. Then put the final copy back into the appropriate place in your store.

If both mods change the same line(s) in the file, you may need coding knowledge to know how to merge the functions or if they can coexist at all.

Hi gjh42, Thanks for your reply. I can edit HTML and CSS, but PHP editing is just too much for me. Can you suggest any other good SEO addon, that doesn't change any core files ? Ceon URI Mapping, Simple SEO URL, etc ?

Thanks

Quote:

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... Can you suggest any other good SEO addon, that doesn't change any core files ? Ceon URI Mapping, Simple SEO URL, etc ?

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They all edit at least one core file and most override at least one core file.
"Ultimate SEO URLs" alters the "zen_href_link" function and adds a function called "original_zen_href_link" inside the file "html_output.php". Most of the other ones work in a similar way.

Quote:

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... now a blank page is showing up after hitting checkout ...

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Was this a "clean" installation of Zen Cart 1.5 or an upgrade from 1.3.x? Did you have a previous version of this (or any other URL modifying module installed? Does the same problem occur with the "classic" template?

I would also highly recommend posting some short snippets of what is found in the "debug" files generated by Zen Cart. This is always a good place to start when trying to determine the cause of a "blank page". The debug files often give a very good indication of where things went wrong with the installation and may help us help you :)

Quote:

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... I removed "Ultimate Seo" and restored the original html_output.php file but the error is still there ...

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If you ran the uninstall for this module, then removed all the new files added by this module, and undid any "merged" changes you made during the installation... There is a good chance the error could be with a different module.

I'd suspect an issue with the "checkout" module's installation... Especially as "Ultimate SEO URLs" does not alter any of Zen Cart's checkout files / functions / classes. By default "Ultimate SEO URLs" does not even change the URLs used during checkout. Hopefully we can make better guesses after you post some snippets from the "debug" files.

P.S. If this is a new store (or you are upgrading) I would highly recommend using Zen Cart 1.5.1 instead of 1.5.0. Zen Cart 1.5.1 includes a number of bug fixes and performance enhancements. No reason to stay with 1.5.0 - as once a module is added you lose PA-DSS (unless you go through the process of getting your changed version tested and approved for compliance).

What is the latest stable version of this plugin? The version in the Plugin Download area is ultimate_seo_urls_212.

Thanks,
Gary

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gxjenkins

What is the latest stable version of this plugin?

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The version posted in the plugins section of zen-cart.com. Version: 2.212 (Final). For the most part only BETA testers get access to download any BETA versions I've written of this plugin.

Not working. The shopping Cart page is not opening ...... When I click "Add to Cart" button, Page Not Found error shows up, instead of the cart page.

Also for some pages its not generating URL's correctly. Leaving empty spaces in between words.

Log file is showing this error .....

Unable to parse URL in public_html/store/includes/classes/seo.url.php on line 1273


I am using a fresh install of Zencart v1.5.1

Ultimate SEO Version 2.212

BTW, when I disable Ultimate SEO from Admin Panel, everything works perfectly.

Never mind, Found the problem. I uploaded .htaccess file to the Root folder. Shifted it to the "Store" folder where Zencart is installed, and everything is working now. Cheers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rony

Never mind, Found the problem. I uploaded .htaccess file to the Root folder. Shifted it to the "Store" folder where Zencart is installed, and everything is working now. Cheers.

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Glad you were able to get everything sorted, and thank you for reporting back :)

Thanks, Although I got it working for the time being. I had to disable the CSS3-Buttons addon. I request developers of Ultimate-SEO to make it compatible with CSS3-Button addon, if possible. Both addons make changes to the html_output.php file which render the other addon dysfunctional.

How do i tell in the affected files which bit of code to merge into my existing files??? Is there a comment anywhere informing me where to start and finish?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rony

I request developers of Ultimate-SEO to make it compatible with CSS3-Button addon, if possible.

---

As far as I know they are compatible. Just because two modules make changes to the same file does not mean the modules are not compatible. You will just need to look through the changes each module makes, see what is different, and then merge the changes together. As they do not modify the same functions in "html_output.php", installing both modules should be relatively easy using a file comparison or merge tool.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PearceStephens

How do i tell in the affected files which bit of code to merge into my existing files??? Is there a comment anywhere informing me where to start and finish?

---

Good Question. WinMerge, BeyondCompare, and a number of other tools provide a side-by-side line-by-line comparison between two files indicating where the files are different, what is different, and allowing you to "merge" the code from one side to the other. These and similar tools are the fastest way to merge changes to any core "Zen Cart" files.

I would highly recommend installing and using one of these tools if you have made ANY changes to "Zen Cart". They are definitely time savers and have many other uses ;)

Why no comment such as "START USU" / "STOP USU" in those files? For the most part the changes made by this module are very minor and consist of only one block of code (I avoid changing core files or core database tables).

The only file with extensive changes is the 1.5.x "query_factory.php". This file was modified to provide more consistent output and address some bugs. The "query_factory.php" file in the distribution under consideration for inclusion in the next "Zen Cart" release. For Zen Cart 1.5.0 and 1.5.1 you should just override the old file with the file in the distribution of this module.

Description
Generated URI's do not conform to w3c standards if categories, products, manufacturers, or other names include characters not allowed in a URI by RFC 3986 (such as Cyrillic characters). Most browsers will automatically correct the URI's without the need for this patch.

Applying this patch will cause URI's generated by "Ultimate SEO URLs" to follow RFC 3986 and encode any relevant characters. After applying the patch the affected environments will generate URI's passing W3C Validation and other modules calling zen_href_link will receive a properly formatted URI.

Affected Environments
Zen Cart installations using UTF8 and utilizing languages which contain non ISO-Latin-1 characters.

Credits
Issue reported by the.rampage.rado and a_berezin.

The Fix
Starting at line 831 in 'seo.url.php' (version 2.212) change:

Code:

---

                // Replace any remaining whitespace with a -
                $retval = preg_replace('/\s/', '-', $retval);

                return $this->short_name($retval); // return the short filtered name
        } # end function

---

with:

Code:

---

                // Replace any remaining whitespace with a -
                $retval = preg_replace('/\s/', '-', $retval);

                // return the short filtered and urlencoded name
                return rawurlencode($this->short_name($retval));

---

Notes
While this fix should work on all supported versions of Zen Cart, it has only been tested against Zen Cart 1.5.1 at this time.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lhungil

As far as I know they are compatible. Just because two modules make changes to the same file does not mean the modules are not compatible. You will just need to look through the changes each module makes, see what is different, and then merge the changes together. As they do not modify the same functions in "html_output.php", installing both modules should be relatively easy using a file comparison or merge tool.

---

They modify same functions at few places ..... If you have merged these files, and both are working, please post the merged file here. It will really help us all. Plz see attached, The report created by WinMerge highlighting the same functions modified.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lhungil

Good Question. WinMerge, BeyondCompare, and a number of other tools provide a side-by-side line-by-line comparison between two files indicating where the files are different, what is different, and allowing you to "merge" the code from one side to the other.

---

Plz see attached, The report created by WinMerge.

If the attached image is too small, please see this URL ..... http://imageshack.us/a/img845/8149/useo.gif

Thanks

Attachment 11823

Here is another little thing that causing a little trouble ....

For 2 of our products .... The URL's generated are like this ....

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/4640/gaps.gif

Notice the blank spaces highlighted with black underline .....

Does anyone know how to fix these blank spaces ?

Any input is highly appreciated.

Thanks

I was checking my log folder today just out of curiosity ..... and saw like 30-40 files like this one ....

[22-Jan-2013 15:44:35] PHP Warning: htmlspecialchars() [<a href='function.htmlspecialchars'>function.htmlspecialchars</a>]: Invalid multibyte sequence in argument in /public_html/store/includes/classes/seo.url.php on line 184

When I upload new products, I use plain text, actually I copy and paste from the good old Notepad. Not sure where the Special Characters are coming from ..... ? :dontgetit

Is this plug-in needed?

Do search engines really have problems list and optimize for PHP coded URLs?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rony

They modify same functions at few places ...

---

If you do a check to see what exactly is different between Zen Cart 1.5.1's stock "html_output.php" and the 1.5.1 pre merged version of the same file included with "Ultimate SEO URLs", you will notice the only line which differs is changing the function name in the original "zen_href_link" to "original_zen_href_link" and adding a replacement function for "zen_href_link". There are no other changes made by "Ultimate SEO URLs".

Keep in mind the files from "CSS3 Buttons" are for version 1.5.0 of Zen Cart and you may need to merge the file distributed with "CSS3 Buttons" with the original from Zen Cart 1.5.1. This may account for the differences you are noting...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rony

Here is another little thing that causing a little trouble ....
For 2 of our products .... The URL's generated are like this ....
Does anyone know how to fix these blank spaces ?

---

The last step before any character data is saved for use in a URI is to run a filter (over every product, category, mfg, etc name) replacing all "spaces" with a "-". This replacement should not allow a space to be in any generated URI's unless something is not installed correctly or the character is not really a space...

US-ASCII, ISO-LATIN-1, and UTF8 represent the space character with decimal 32... so if you are using any of those encoding (Zen Cart 1.5.1 uses UTF8 by default) this replacement should always work. If you are using a different character encoding you may run into issues.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rony

I was checking my log folder today just out of curiosity ..... and saw like 30-40 files like this one .... PHP Warning: htmlspecialchars() ...

---

Most of the times I have seen that message it is related to a character encoding mismatch... So character data being sent to the htmlspecialchars function not matching the specified character encoding. The character data is pulled from the database... and the encoding used is the one specified in Zen Cart (usually UTF-8 in a clean install of 1.5.1). I've seen this crop up sometimes with character set mismatches between the database and Zen Cart settings (typically with a mass import or upgrade).

You specified this was a new "clean" install of Zen Cart... How did you enter the product data (name, price, etc)? Please provide details including any tools or editors used as this may help us help you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kevin205

Is this plug-in needed?

---

Depends upon your business goal. This plugin is more about adding "human readable" text (keywords) to the URL than specifically SEO.

You can read online about why having human readable words in a URL may be beneficial. You can also read (in many SEO discussions and websites) why having keywords in a URL may be beneficial for listings in a search engine.

So to keep the answer short: No you do not need this plugin... But then the same answer can be given for any and all plugins. My advice? Look at your business goals and make a decision - "human readable text with ids" or just "ids".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lhungil

You specified this was a new "clean" install of Zen Cart... How did you enter the product data (name, price, etc)? Please provide details including any tools or editors used as this may help us help you.

---

For example: Did you use an editor such as CKEditor? What character encoding do you have the database and Zen Cart set to use? Notepad by default uses ANSI not UTF-8... US-English Word uses Windows-1252. So copy / paste may cause some problems unless you save the file to UTF-8 first. Have you tried saving to UTF-8?

Did I mention how much fun working with different character sets and character encoding can be? Especially for applications used worldwide? If you have any mixed character encoding in the database it may take awhile to update them all to one encoding (I'd recommend UTF-8)...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lhungil

Depends upon your business goal. This plugin is more about adding "human readable" text (keywords) to the URL than specifically SEO.

You can read online about why having human readable words in a URL may be beneficial. You can also read (in many SEO discussions and websites) why having keywords in a URL may be beneficial for listings in a search engine.

So to keep the answer short: No you do not need this plugin... But then the same answer can be given for any and all plugins. My advice? Look at your business goals and make a decision - "human readable text with ids" or just "ids".

---

Now it make sense. I totally agree with you.

And since I know how hard it is to code, I just wanted to say, Thank you.

You are welcome.

And this is a reminder to all those who helped create, update, maintain, debug, provide feedback, comment on the forums, and provide help to other Zen Cart users. Your time and work is appreciated, and we all say thankee-sai!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lhungil

For example: Did you use an editor such as CKEditor? What character encoding do you have the database and Zen Cart set to use? Notepad by default uses ANSI not UTF-8... US-English Word uses Windows-1252. So copy / paste may cause some problems unless you save the file to UTF-8 first. Have you tried saving to UTF-8?

---

You were right, it was the encoding problem. I was saving everything in ANSI (default Notepad format) not UTF-8. As soon as I switched to UTF-8, everything is working great. Thanks for your advise. Really appreciate it.

Regarding merging CSS3-Buttons with Ultimate-SEO, I guess I should wait until an expert merges it, I am not very good in PHP, and don't want to mess-up my working and earning shopping-cart. :smile:

Hi,
1.3.9h

yesterday I loaded Ultimate SEO URLS v2.110 onto a site and today I had a warning email from Google in WMT saying that I had excessive NO FOLLOW errors - 200+ in fact - ALL in this exact format:
index.php?currency=CAD&main_page=index&index_php%3Fmain_page=product_info&produc ts_id=528&sort=3a&page=9 ... ALL exactly the same except for id number. All 301 re-directs.

Is there a fix for this - please?

cheers,
Mike

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shags38

Hi,
1.3.9h

yesterday I loaded Ultimate SEO URLS v2.110 onto a site and today

---

Any reason you loaded an old version instead of the latest (2.212)?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shags38

I had a warning email from Google in WMT saying that I had excessive NO FOLLOW errors - 200+ in fact

---

Interesting. This plugin does not add any "nofollow" or "noindex" tags to your website (not in links or the header). Did they say "nofollow" or "redirect"? Excessive "redirect" would make more sense... If you are positive it is "nofollow" read the next paragraph. Otherwise skip ahead.

I have heard rumors in the SEO world in regards to addition penalties being applied for "over optimization"... And "nofollow" used on internal links in the past has been abused to manipulate page ranking... You might want to check and make sure you are not using this attribute on a large number of links.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shags38

ALL in this exact format:
index.php?currency=CAD&main_page=index&index_php%3Fmain_page=product_info&produc ts_id=528&sort=3a&page=9 ...

---

Strange. I see an attempt at two main_page query terms for two different pages (index = category / main, product_info = product page). This URI does not match the ones generated by Zen Cart or the ones generated by the "Ultimate SEO URLs" plugin.

After browsing your website for about 15 minutes I did not see any links like these on your website... Where is Google seeing these? External links? Sitemap? Etc? You will want to find where these links are coming from and correct them if possible.

While you could add a RewriteCond / RewriteRule to your web server config to match these bad links and correct them, it is almost always better to find and fix any broken links at the source.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shags38

ALL exactly the same except for id number. All 301 re-directs.

---

Yes, the old versions automatically used a 301 redirect from the Zen Cart URIs to the ones generated by "Ultimate SEO URLs". They also had issues with "index.php?" appearing twice in the same URI (which should never happen - and could indicate something broken in a template or other add-on).

Automatic 301 redirects are optional in the current version (additional canonical link support has been added). Keep in mind changing a URL using a 301 redirect does incur a minor initial penalty to page rank in most search engines if the page is already ranking.

lhungil,

many thanks indeed for your detailed response - very much appreciated.

Firstly I loaded 2.110 because I had it in my hard drive from previous installations, I now have SEO urls on seven sites - have learned a lesson, always check to see if newer versions are available. Where I have loaded the plugin from scratch I have had no problems at all - it is only with 2 sites where I have loaded it after using normal Zencart dynamic urls - this situation happened a number of times in the past with another site but I didn't do anything about it other than click 'fixed' in WMT.

I have downloaded 2.212 and read the readme.txt So where do I turn off Zencart SQL Cache to be able to run this new version on 1.3.9h replacing the old version? and how would I recognize the files in the database to delete? what files would they be?
If you are running a version of this plugin prior to version 2.150 it is recommended you uninstall the old
version of the plugin

Quote:

---

including all database entries

---

prior to installing this version.

I haven't yet upgraded to v1.5 as when I read the instructions just after it was released I found it too complicated - I must try it again I know but I heed to keep the site working efficiently until I do :smile:

cheers,
Mike

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shags38

Firstly I loaded 2.110 because I had it in my hard drive from previous installations

---

*smiles* Glad it was not because of a broken / missing feature or installation problems :)

Less than 30% of the code from legacy versions is still present and the legacy code has some known issues with newer versions of MySQL and PHP. For the most part I am only providing support for the updated versions.

If you install version 2.212, make sure you look at this patch and the first post in this thread.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shags38

I have downloaded 2.212 and read the readme.txt So where do I turn off Zencart SQL Cache.

---

By default the SQL Cache is not enabled. You can check the setting of "SQL_CACHE_METHOD" in your "configure.php" files.

The main reason I do not recommend using "Ultimate SEO URLs" with the SQL Cache enabled under Zen Cart 1.3 is the plugin will utilize the SQL Cache (if enabled). Doesn't sound like a bad thing.... But there were some minor issues (the last time I tested) with the results returned by the database abstraction layer (when the SQL Cache is enabled) in the Zen Cart 1.3 & 1.5 branches. These minor issues become major when the cache was used for every URI generated on a page ;)

I've included a pre-release of the database abstraction layer (including fixes) from the Zen Cart 1.6 branch which can be used on Zen Cart 1.5 branch and takes care of the issues. I have not tested the changes merged into the Zen Cart 1.3 branch (they might work, or they might break things).

The query_cache add-on (compared to the Zen Cart SQL Cache) typically provides a greater performance enhancement in most situations (but not all). If you were using the Zen Cart SQL Cache, I would highly recommend the query_cache add-on by data-diggers. This awesome add-on is included with Zen Cart 1.5.1 out-of-box.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shags38

replacing the old version? and how would I recognize the files in the database to delete? what files would they be?

---

Three parts of the legacy versions of "Ultimate SEO URLs" you should remove.

1. The configuration. There was a function included in the old version to remove any configuration settings in the database and also the seo_cache table. This should be run first. I cannot remember how to call the function, but you can take a look in the seo.url.install.php... and then run those SQL Queries in the uninstall function against the database.
2. The files. Any files you added or changed to install the old version.

On versions newer than 2.150 you should always use the included uninstall instructions! Do not use the above instructions!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shags38

I haven't yet upgraded to v1.5 as when I read the instructions just after it was released I found it too complicated - I must try it again I know but I heed to keep the site working efficiently until I do :smile:

---

Completely understandable. Best wishes when you get time to undertake the adventure!

I found it less intimidating once I understood you could skip all the overwrite and merge. When I do an upgrade now I just install a new clean copy (setup script)... Then copy the old db over the new db... then run the setup script again ONLY updating the database... After that it's just pick a template, add necessary plugins, and make any needed changes. Plus this process allows you to retain your old working installation - just to be on the safe side.

I have download the 2.212 and install successfully. all page run perfect. but the the Categories have some errors.
when I set the Categories as directories to short or full. the categories url rewrite to http://www.site.com/categories-c-1/, not http://www.site.com/categories-c-1.html. and then my site can't load the template. becaue the base url become to http://www.site.com/categories-c-1/ not the default url: http://www.site.com/
who can help me?
Attachment 11867Attachment 11868Attachment 11869

The behavior you describe is how the option "Categories as directories" works. It turns all categories into "directories".

When you say "can't load the template", do you mean "external resources (such as css, js, and image files) are not loading"? If so, there is a very good chance your template is using "page relative" links instead of "site relative" links.

So basically you have three main options: A) fix your template, B) use a template which can handle "directories" in the URL, C) turn off "Categories as directories".


There are a number of different ways to fix your template to work correctly with "directories" in the URL. Here are two:
1) Do what the default template shipped with Zen Cart does. Include the following snippet on every page in the HTML head: <base href="http://mysite.com/">. This tells browsers to pre-pend the "base href" to all relative links. While this will fix the problem, some website scrapers (such as those used by Facebook) do not currently read this HTML element.

2) Correct the behavior of your template to use "site relative" links instead of "page relative" links. This can be done by pre-pending every link to external resources with the website root. Zen Cart stores the website root in two constants: DIR_WS_CATALOG and DIR_WS_HTTPS_CATALOG.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lhungil

The behavior you describe is how the option "Categories as directories" works. It turns all categories into "directories".

When you say "can't load the template", do you mean "external resources (such as css, js, and image files) are not loading"? If so, there is a very good chance your template is using "page relative" links instead of "site relative" links.

So basically you have three main options: A) fix your template, B) use a template which can handle "directories" in the URL, C) turn off "Categories as directories".


There are a number of different ways to fix your template to work correctly with "directories" in the URL. Here are two:
1) Do what the default template shipped with Zen Cart does. Include the following snippet on every page in the HTML head: <base href="http://mysite.com/">. This tells browsers to pre-pend the "base href" to all relative links. While this will fix the problem, some website scrapers (such as those used by Facebook) do not currently read this HTML element.

2) Correct the behavior of your template to use "site relative" links instead of "page relative" links. This can be done by pre-pending every link to external resources with the website root. Zen Cart stores the website root in two constants: DIR_WS_CATALOG and DIR_WS_HTTPS_CATALOG.

---

thank you very much, now the template is loaded ok, but the categories url rewrite to http://www.site.com/categories-c-1/, not http://www.site.com/categories-c-1.html. there are no ".html". the product info page is ok, it can rewrite to http://www.site.com/categories-c-1/products-p-1.html.Attachment 11872
and if I turn off the Categories as directories, then the categories url can be rewrite to http://www.site.com/categories-c-1.html, but the products info url rewrite to http://www.site.com/products-p-1.html?cPath=1. how can I rewrite the categories url to http://www.site.com/categories-c-1.html, products url to http://www.site.com/categories-c-1/products-p-1.html

That is not a currently supported option for many valid reasons (including performance, end user accessibility, and usability considerations). I suppose you could "modify" the code to do what you want... But I will not support the changes.

What business goal are you trying to accomplish by changing the behavior of "Categories as directories"?

Hello,

i'm currently using 1.3.9h and trying to upload the Ultimate SEO module.

i've added the SagePay module only, and I host using United Hosting.

However, i'm having a little problem with Ultimate SEO module upload, namely that:

a) I can't seem to get the .htaccess to successful run after i've changed the RewriteBase line - coming up with a Server 500 Error.

b) I also don't fully understand what the next steps are to configuring it through the admin panel afterwards. Do you have to change http://www.mywebsite.com/index.php?m...roducts_id=936 inoto http://www.mywebsite.com/flowers/roses

Or will it automatically detect and change?

Your help is appreciated, as i've hit a brick wall... :blink:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by christospur

a) I can't seem to get the .htaccess to successful run after i've changed the RewriteBase line - coming up with a Server 500 Error.

---

Check your server's error logs. They should show the source of the internal server error (HTTP 500).

Assuming you have installed the latest version from this website (2.212) and your hosting provider is running Apache2... The most common causes I have seen of "500" errors after adding the .htaccess rules are:

1) Server not supporting enabling of symbolic link following in a .htaccess file "Options +FollowSymLinks". Most servers who disable changing this option will have it enabled. If the server error log shows this as the issue, try removing this line.

2) An incorrect RewriteBase (or .htaccess file in the wrong location). The .htaccess file should be in Zen Cart's root installation folder. So if you installed Zen Cart at /var/www/zencart then the .htaccess file should be at /var/www/zencart/.htaccess.

The RewriteBase needs to be the web path to your Zen Cart installation. So if your Zen Cart web root is "http://somedomain.com/zen_cart/1.5.1" then the rewrite base would be "/zen_cart/1.5.1". If it is "http://somedomain.com/" then the rewrite base should be either removed (it is not needed) or set to "/".

3) Server not supporting mod_rewrite. This is very rare and you would need to talk with your hosting provider to have then enable the use of mod_rewrite.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by christospur

I also don't fully understand what the next steps are to configuring it through the admin panel afterwards.

---

The configuration in the admin interface allows you to enable/disable features, choose which Zen Cart pages to rewrite, and "customize" (chose the format of) the automatically generated URIs.

Thank you so much for the update however when I uploaded all of the necessary files I am coming up with this error message. I have looked on the forum and cant find anything that pertains to my situation. This is the fatal error message that I am receiving when logging into Admin

Fatal error: Call to undefined function zen_draw_admin_box() in /home/kiefer/public_html/admin/includes/boxes/catalog_dhtml.php on line 44

Thanks in advance!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ka1ber

... Fatal error: Call to undefined function zen_draw_admin_box() in /home/kiefer/public_html/admin/includes/boxes/catalog_dhtml.php on line 44...

---

If you are running Zen Cart 1.3.9h, I am going to venture you copied / merged files from "1_affected_files_150" and / or "1_affected_files_151" into your Zen Cart 1.3.9h installation. As per the step #1 in the readme, you use the files in "1_affected_files_139h" and "1_affected_files_139h\your_admin_folder" for Zen Cart 1.3.9h. You should not use the files in "1_affected_files_150" or "1_affected_files_151" for Zen Cart 1.3.9h. If this is the case you will need to replace "/admin/functions/general.php" and "/includes/classes/db/mysql/query_factory.php" with the originals from 1.3.9h.

If you are running Zen Cart 1.5, I am going to venture you updated from Zen Cart 1.3 and missed some things during the update. The "zen_draw_admin_box" function is not a part of Zen Cart 1.5. If this is the case you will need to redo the Zen Cart upgrade and fix any changes which were missed.

If you are running a different version of Zen Cart... I would recommend you upgrade to a newer version as soon as possible. The current version of "Ultimate SEO URLs" is not supported on older versions of Zen Cart.

note: "zen_draw_admin_box" is a Zen Cart 1.3.x function defined in "/admin/functions/general.php". Ultimate SEO URLs does not update or replace "/admin/functions/general.php" for Zen Cart 1.3.9h.

I have category urls as
http://mywebsite/my-tshirts-c-79/

I want to add hyphen and remove the number so they become
http://mywebsite/my-t-shirts-c-79/ or better http://mywebsite/my-t-shirts/

For adding hyphen between t and shirts, I tried this in the "Enter special character conversions"
"tshirts=>t-shirts"
but I see no change

Currently if you want to completely replace the Zen Cart parameters and omit the -c-, -p-, etc, you will need to use CEON URI. Once you switch to this it may be time consuming of you decide to switch back to Zen Cart generated URLs. EX: "http://mywebsite/my-t-shirts/".

"Ultimate SEO URLs" only adds keywords based upon your product / category / ez-page titles and shortens for example "main_page=index&cPath=79" to "-c-79". This makes it easier and fairly safe to switch between USU generated URIs and Zen Cart generated URIs. EX: "http://mywebsite/my-t-shirts-c-79/"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by superprg

For adding hyphen between t and shirts, I tried this in the "Enter special character conversions"
"tshirts=>t-shirts"
but I see no change

---

As the configuration option states "Enter special character conversions: This setting will replace a single byte character with another single byte character.". That option is for replacing all instances of a single character with another single character.

If you wish to do string based search and replace you will need to use the PCRE filter. The PCRE filter can handle string and regexp matches. Entering "tshirts=>t shirts" should work if you enter it in the PCRE filter (note the space will be changed to a - as the PCRE filter runs before the check for allowed characters). The PCRE filter uses the PHP preg_replace function.

Thanks lhungil
I removed the special character conversoins and added "tshirts=>t shirts" in PCRE filter rules but I do not see any changes in the generated urls on the site

I am using zen cart v1.5.1

Hi,

I am using Preston Elite Template after successful installation of Ultimate-SEO when I click any item i am getting below noted messages :

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.


More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 500 Internal Server Error error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Apache Server at www.kishops.com Port 80

I am not a programmer and new in this field so please advice me how i can solve this prob.

Waiting for your reply hope you will intimate me asap.

Thanks.

Rajesh Verma

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by superprg

Thanks lhungil
I removed the special character conversoins and added "tshirts=>t shirts" in PCRE filter rules but I do not see any changes in the generated urls on the site

---

Don't forget to "Reset SEO URLs Cache" to make the changes show up immediately.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by koolwal

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

---

Usually these messages occur when your hosting provider does not allow the use of one or more directives in your .htaccess file. Usually either not allowing you to override options (Options +FollowSymLinks) or to use mod_rewrite.

What did you find in the server error log? The logs are usually accessible either via FTP or cPanel on most hosts. If you are unsure where to find the server error log you can ask your hosting provider (as they configure this).

Just wanted to ask here if there is a setting or edit that can make the url's generated with USEO match those from outdated Simple SEO

Listed simpleSEO first then USEO

Code:

---

motorcycle-lifts-lifting-tables-c-110_111/redline-mc1k-1000-lb-motorcycle-atv-lift-table-free-frame-jack-p-633
motorcycle-lifts-lifting-tables-c-110_111/redline-mc1k-1000-lb-motorcycleatv-lift-table-free-frame-jack-p-633

---

You can see that between motorcycle and atv there is a dash when using simpleseo and none when using USEO

I believe that the use of "/" in the name may be the issue as it is "motorcycle/atv"

Hi Guys

I have numinix Ajax fec checkout installed with ultimate seo urls and stumbled into a new issue.

If i enable automatic redirects in admin, the Ajax shopping cart process fails with "sorry your session has expired". It works fine of i disable this.

Also if I remove "index" from the list of pages to rewrite this works fine but obviously lots of pages such as categories won't be redirected ( i need redirects working as old urls are indexed in google)

pages effected:
"https://www.example.co.uk/index.php?main_page=quick_checkout"

Is there a way of overiding rewriting of ultimate for all secure pages? or just this page that is effected?

Any help greatly appreciated, (I have spent days looking at this without any success and numinix have not found the fix as yet).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kobra

...
Listed simpleSEO first then USEO

Code:

---

motorcycle-lifts-lifting-tables-c-110_111/redline-mc1k-1000-lb-motorcycle-atv-lift-table-free-frame-jack-p-633
motorcycle-lifts-lifting-tables-c-110_111/redline-mc1k-1000-lb-motorcycleatv-lift-table-free-frame-jack-p-633

---

You can see that between motorcycle and atv there is a dash when using simpleseo and none when using USEO

I believe that the use of "/" in the name may be the issue as it is "motorcycle/atv"

---

Dead on! The "remove characters from URLs" filter in Ultimate SEO URLs strips either all non-alphanumericals or all punctuation (including "/"). The PCRE filter is the first filter run, so you can use this to adjust the name (in 2.212+ the filters are applied in the order they appear in the admin interface). You can use "motorcycle/atv=>motorcycle atv". Note the space? The space will be converted to a dash automatically.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tracstev

...
I have numinix Ajax fec checkout installed with ultimate seo urls and stumbled into a new issue.

If i enable automatic redirects in admin, the Ajax shopping cart process fails with "sorry your session has expired". It works fine of i disable this.

Also if I remove "index" from the list of pages to rewrite this works fine but obviously lots of pages such as categories won't be redirected ( i need redirects working as old urls are indexed in google)

pages effected:
"https://www.example.co.uk/index.php?main_page=quick_checkout"

Is there a way of overiding rewriting of ultimate for all secure pages? or just this page that is effected?
...

---

What version of Zen Cart and Ultimate SEO URLs are you experiencing this issue under?
Where during the checkout process is it bringing this up? Is it with a specific payment method?
What URLs are being called via AJAX by the Numinex FEC module?
Can you provide a link to the site in question so we can see exactly what is occurring?
Can you also PM a dummy customer account I can test with?

POST data will be lost if a redirect occurs. The current version of Ultimate SEO URLs does not issue a 301 redirect for any page where "POST" data is present (for security POST should always be used with form submissions during checkout).

The current version of Ultimate SEO URLs will also not rewrite pages not listed in "pages to rewrite" (unless you cleared the default list). If you cleared the list, please add back the pages you want rewritten. If you added "quick_checkout", just remove it from the list. The variable found in "main_page=" is the name of the Zen Cart "page".

You say removing "index" from the list of pages to rewrite fixes your issues? This is rather strange, as "index" refers to category pages (category_list and product_list) and the main page... Not checkout pages... Does FEC modify category pages?

Hi

Many thanks for your reply. The site is in development at the moment, it's running the latest version of zencart 1.5.1 and Ultimate URLS. The error is ocurring after creating the customer account and selecting a delivery method or updating the coupon code - deleting items from the cart and selecting a payment type is fine.

This is a the development site with the issue 213.175.206.13

The fec links are 213.175.206.13/index.php?main_page=quick_checkout and 213.175.206.13/index.php?main_page=quick_checkout

Feel free to create a user and test it perhaps call the customer "lhungil" so i know it's you.

Many thanks for your help

Tried this in PCRE filter
motorcycle/atv=>motorcycle atv

Getting this

Code:

---

Warning: preg_replace() [function.preg-replace]: Unknown modifier 'a' in /home/xxxxxxx/public_html/catalog/includes/classes/seo.url.php on line 795

---

Which version of the .htaccess should be used? I'd found a version in this thread that is much more elaborate than the sample one included with the latest version available in the plugins section.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tracstev

...
This is a the development site with the issue 213.175.206.13

---

Looking at your site, "Ultimate SEO URLs" is not generating redirects. The redirects during checkout are being generated by the "AJAX FEC" module.

The AJAX portion of FEC is redirecting to "/" when doing a "login_check". This script is being called by "AJAX FEC" when submitting a GV / Coupon Code. I am not sure how exactly this script is attempting to validate the login, but something here seems strange. You will want take a closer look at the scripts in /ajax/ to see what they are attempting. Everything other than the GV section (using AJAX) appeared to work for me. I did notice the checkout confirmation was extremely slow (timed out in IE, went through in FF)... As "AJAX FEC" is a commercial module (and I do not own a copy), you may want to ask for support from Numinex (on forums, or paid installation).

Also...is there any recommendations on 'full vs short' regarding seo rankings...which would google/bing/etc prefer? Thanks!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kobra

Tried this in PCRE filter
motorcycle/atv=>motorcycle atv

Getting this

Code:

---

Warning: preg_replace() [function.preg-replace]: Unknown modifier 'a' in /home/xxxxxxx/public_html/catalog/includes/classes/seo.url.php on line 795

---

---

My bad, the "/" needs to be escaped as it is used as the delimiter for preg_replace. Try "motorcycle\\/atv=>motorcycle atv" (yes double escaped) and then reset the URL cache.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by deadeye

Which version of the .htaccess should be used? I'd found a version in this thread that is much more elaborate than the sample one included with the latest version available in the plugins section.

---

Use the one which ships with the current version. The one posted earlier in the forums is older (was a fix for a specific older version).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by deadeye

Also...is there any recommendations on 'full vs short' regarding seo rankings...which would google/bing/etc prefer? Thanks!

---

"Ultimate SEO URLs" adds the category / product / ez-page names to the URL (and they are also used as h1 tags in most templates). So basically it adds what some would call "keywords" to the URLs. Depending on the names you used, your industry, your perspective customers, and many other factors you might be better off with one format of another... So no "this format is better for seo" answer exists :)

The URL is a currently very minor factor in the grand scheme of things. There are other places you would be better off spending your time (and money) when it comes to SEO. Take a look at the top two results in Google for SEO: http://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo and http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo If you wish to further discuss SEO topics on the forums (I would highly recommend doing research other places as well), please discuss them in the Search Engines section of the forums.

No joy using motorcycle\\/atv=>motorcycle atv in Enter PCRE filter rules for generated URLs
as I still get this

Code:

---

Warning: preg_replace() [function.preg-replace]: Unknown modifier 'a' in /home/xxxxxxxx/public_html/catalog/includes/classes/seo.url.php on line 795

---

Version = 2.212

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kobra

No joy using motorcycle\\/atv=>motorcycle atv in Enter PCRE filter rules for generated URLs
as I still get this

Code:

---

Warning: preg_replace() [function.preg-replace]: Unknown modifier 'a' in /home/xxxxxxxx/public_html/catalog/includes/classes/seo.url.php on line 795

---

Version = 2.212

---

The search and replace is case sensitive. Are there any capital letters in the product name?

Does your server have magic_quotes_gpc or magic_quotes_runtime enabled? You can either check "Admin -> Version" to see the output of phpinfo or try entering "motorcycle\/atv=>motorcycle atv" (if this works one of them is enabled). If enabled, you may want to ask your provider to turn them off as they can cause issues (especially as the world moves to PHP 5.4).

Code:

---

"motorcycle\/atv=>motorcycle atv" (

---

Thank You
This was the case

Hi all,
I am having issues with USEO, when enabled I am getting this:
When I click manifacturer or categories or anythingelse ( i got this:http://www.labcomputerny.com//adapters-c-65/)

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 500 Internal Server Error error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

I am using the latest version and I am on Zen 1.5.1

Please help.

here

Here is my .htaccess:

# NOTE: Replace /shop/ with the relative web path of your catalog in the "Rewrite Base" line below:

# For security reasons, Option followsymlinks cannot be overridden.
#Options +FollowSymLinks
#Options +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /labcomputerny

###############################################################################
# Start Ultimate SEO URLs
###############################################################################

# Handles the new URL formats
RewriteRule ^(.*)-c-([0-9_]+)/(.*)-p-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=$4&cPath=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-c-([0-9_]+)/(.*)-pi-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=$4&cPath=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-c-([0-9_]+)/(.*)-pr-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=product_reviews&products_id=$4&cPath=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-c-([0-9_]+)/(.*)-pri-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=product_reviews_info&products_id=$4&cPath=$2&%{QUERY_STRING } [L]

# Original (unchanged) URL formats
RewriteRule ^(.*)-p-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-m-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-pi-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-pr-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=product_reviews&products_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-pri-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=product_reviews_info&products_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-ezp-([0-9]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=page&id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)-c-([0-9_]+)(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=index&cPath=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]

# All other pages
# Don't rewrite real files or directories
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=$1&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]

labcomputer,

Quote:

---

RewriteBase /labcomputerny

---

This should be only

Quote:

---

RewriteBase /

---

Another thing I just notice, when I try to access my store from the back-end I got a blank page.

Ok, RewriteBase / fix it
But I just cannot access the store from my backend now.
We are getting there.

Thanks Kobra:D:smile:

Blank Page issues
http://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?...t-of-a-page%29

If using 1.5.x check your /logs folder - if earlier check the /cache folder for mydebug files

log send me to cache_entry_created = '1362734288' in /includes/classes/db/mysql/query_factory.php on line 120
Do you see anything wrong below?

trigger_error($this->error_number . ':' . $this->error_text . ' :: ' . $this->zf_sql, E_USER_ERROR);
if (defined('IS_ADMIN_FLAG') && IS_ADMIN_FLAG==true) echo 'If you were entering information, press the BACK button in your browser and re-check the information you had entered to be sure you left no blank fields.<br />';
echo '</div>';

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by labcomputer

Hi all,
I am having issues with USEO, when enabled I am getting this:
When I click manifacturer or categories or anythingelse ( i got this:http://www.labcomputerny.com//adapters-c-65/)

---

You will also want to look at your configure.php. The extra "/" in the URL usually indicates HTTP_SERVER and/or HTTPS_SERVER end with a "/" (and they should not).

When you installed, were there any error messages during step #5? Was there a success message during step #5?
Was this an upgrade from a previous version? If so what version? Was this a new installation of "Ultimate SEO URLs"?
What version of Zen Cart? What if anything was in the debug files (/logs or /cache)?

by the way I turn off U SEO because the site was down. I taught it was working but it wasn't.

Zen Cart or U SEO?

I check this out:
You will also want to look at your configure.php. The extra "/" in the URL usually indicates HTTP_SERVER and/or HTTPS_SERVER end with a "/" (and they should not).

but none of them have an extra /

Which one of the configure.php should I check?

I think the extra "/" was causing the issues.

It seems to be working now.

Please try it and let me know: www.labcomputerny.com


Thanks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by labcomputer

I think the extra "/" was causing the issues.

It seems to be working now.

---

Just to confirm. Once you updated the RewriteBase to the correct value and fixed settings in the configure.php files everything appears to be working? And you can get to the admin side of Zen Cart?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by labcomputer

log send me to cache_entry_created = '1362734288' in /includes/classes/db/mysql/query_factory.php on line 120

---

Without seeing the full message, I can only guess... The partial error message looks similar to errors relating the the SQL_CACHE and line 120 has to do with Database Connectivity errors. if you are using Zen Cart 1.3.9h (never did get an answer to this question), you may wish to disable the SQL_CACHE (not officially supported w/ "USU" [Ultimate SEO URLs]).

Hi Guys,

I've been using Ultimate SEO URLS on my Zen Cart 1.3.9h website for the last year and it works great. I am now in the process of upgrading my website to Zen Cart 1.5.1, and am also upgrading to the latest version of Ultimate SEO URLs at the same time.

I've installed all the required files and everything's working well, apart from one small change I noticed between the old version and the new version of Ultimate SEO URLs.

The old version lists my categories like this:
http://www.mydomain.com/sample-category-c-80_3.html

And the new version lists my categories like this:
http://www.mydomain.com/sample-category-c-80_3/

As far as I can tell, the product pages and all other pages load with the '.html' shown at the end of the URL, but not the category pages. Instead, the categories are showing a slash '/' at the end.

The original category URLs has already been indexed in the search engines and I don't want to run the risk of losing traffic by changing the URLs.

If anyone knows how to fix this issue, I would really appreciate the help!

Thanks very much :)

Hi Guys,

I've been using Ultimate SEO URLS on my Zen Cart 1.3.9h website for the last year and it works great. I am now in the process of upgrading my website to Zen Cart 1.5.1, and am also upgrading to the latest version of Ultimate SEO URLs at the same time.

I've installed all the required files and everything's working well, apart from one small change I noticed between the old version and the new version of Ultimate SEO URLs.

The old version lists my categories like this:
http://www.mydomain.com/sample-category-c-80_3.html

And the new version lists my categories like this:
http://www.mydomain.com/sample-category-c-80_3/

As far as I can tell, the product pages and all other pages load with the '.html' shown at the end of the URL, but not the category pages. Instead, the categories are showing a slash '/' at the end.

The original category URLs has already been indexed in the search engines and I don't want to run the risk of losing traffic by changing the URLs.

If anyone knows how to fix this issue, I would really appreciate the help!

Thanks very much :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tracey

...
"http://www.mydomain.com/sample-category-c-80_3.html"
...

---

Go to "Zen Cart admin" > "Configuration" > "Ultimate SEO". Adjust the settings as follows to match the "original" version of "Ultimate SEO URLs".

Rewritten URLs end with: .html
Format of rewritten URLs: original
Categories as directories: off

Quote:

---

The original category URLs has already been indexed in the search engines and I don't want to run the risk of losing traffic by changing the URLs.

---

You will not lose any incoming traffic unless you change the product / category / ez-page IDs in the database. Ultimate SEO URLs will still accept URLs coming in with the old format and show the correct page based upon the ID. So as long as the IDs stay the same during your upgrade things should work.

Additionally, Zen Cart 1.5 (and the newer Ultimate SEO URLs) automatically handles adding what is known as a canonical link to the HTML head of your pages. This lets Search Engines know two pages are the same (does not treat them as duplicate content). You can read more about this here.

You can also set "Enable automatic redirects?" to true. This will handle automatically issuing a 301 redirect to let Search Engines know the new URL (and update the index link quickly). I'd recommend enabling this option if you change the URL format or sometimes change a product, category, or ez-page title. This will quickly let Search Engines and browsers know the URL has changed. I'd probably just keep the old URL scheme on a well established site rather than take the 1-2% link juice drop caused by a 301 redirect, but still enable this option if you ever update product, category, or ez-page titles.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by labcomputer

Zen Cart or U SEO?

---

Not sure what you mean here...

Are you asking if you should use this mod for better "SEO", or rely on native ZC ?

Answer is very simple... This mod will have zero influence on SEO...

(Some disagree... but their number is diminishing !)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by schoolboy

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by labcomputer

Zen Cart or U SEO?

---

Not sure what you mean here...

---

Considering the context of posts by the OP before and after that question, I'd say it most likely was in regards to what was the cause of the errors they were seeing in their debug logs. The OP of that question has posted they resolved the issues they experiencing and we know for sure they fixed one mistake made during installation and probably some issues with their Zen Cart configure.php file(s). Until we hear back from the OP, we cannot be sure.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by schoolboy

...
Are you asking if you should use this mod for better "SEO", or rely on native ZC ?

Answer is very simple... This mod will have zero influence on SEO...

(Some disagree... but their number is diminishing !)

---

The primary reasons this module is being maintained are: A) add human friendly components to the URLs generated by Zen Cart (and there are valid business reasons to add such components). B) So those upgrading from Zen Cart 1.3.x to 1.5 who previously used an older version of this module (or certain other 1.3.x modules) can continue to use the same URLs (and also benefit from fixes and new features). These reasons have been repeated over and over in many different places on the forums including this thread.

I understand you have a personal crusade against any module which changes the URLs of Zen Cart. Some of your reasoning is valid and applies to many other Zen Cart modules - not just ones which change the generated URLs. I fully agree; One who does not understand PHP or mod_rewrite may run into some difficulties installing this module and any Zen Cart module which makes changes to PHP files or a .htaccess file.

There is a learning curve to PHP and mod_rewrite and even the best of us can make mistakes in the process of installing a module or updating Zen Cart. Backing up the store (files + database) is important before attempting to install any Zen Cart module - and testing changes on a non-production clone of a production site is also prudent.

In reality, these modules serve no useful purpose - not even for "human readable url's" because MOST website owners use <a href> hyperlinks which mask the true url. Even the search engines parse the url into "friendly text" - so what exactly is the point of risking your site? I just don't get it.

It's really noble that you have devoted a lot of time to polishing up this module - I respect that - but they have really "had their day".

The vast majority of people who install this stuff, do so under the misconception that it is a "silver bullet" that will somehow race them up the rankings at Google. Now that is very sad - because these mods are some of the fussiest and delicate ever made.

You just need to see the number of views these mods attract (as well as posts from desperate, tearful users who have messed up their sites terribly). A quick tally shows that about a million views have been made. Wow -- that's a lot of people looking for solutions! And for problems that never needed to be caused in the first place.

SEO is increasingly about on-page content, and the trend towards the semantic web is going to shift focus to rich-snippets more rapidly than most people realise.

Perhaps the problem is in the name - - "Ultimate SEO" - - when it is (in fact) the exact opposite. :(