URLS like: index.php?page=page1 ???

**mburt** · 10-19-2006, 03:28 PM

I have links on my page, but instead of linking to pages like:

Code:

<a href="guestbook.php">Guestbook</a>

I would like to have

Code:

<a href="?page=1">Guestbook</a>

How can I do this?

**mwinter** · 10-19-2006, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by mburt

... instead of linking to pages like:

Code:

<a href="guestbook.php">Guestbook</a>

I would like to have

Code:

<a href="?page=1">Guestbook</a>

How can I do this?

Uh, why would you want to do that? URLs should be transcribable and easy to remember. Ideally, the query string should be used only to modify details about a particular document, not choose the document itself.

Jakob Nielsen has a few guidelines regarding URIs and their importance as a UI feature, sentiments that are echoed elsewhere.

What exactly makes you think this will be a good idea, either for visitors or yourself?

Mike

**mburt** · 10-19-2006, 04:00 PM

It leaves off the extension, possibly making it easier to navigate.

**mburt** · 10-19-2006, 04:03 PM

So how could I do this?

**mwinter** · 10-19-2006, 04:19 PM

So then why don't you aim for URIs like:

  http://www.example.com/guestbook

Still no "extension", but no unnecessary query string silliness.

I've discussed how to implement extension-less URIs in the past - you even participated in one thread.

Mike

**mburt** · 10-19-2006, 04:23 PM

I've read that post, I couldn't understand it.

Code:

So then why don't you aim for URIs like:

  http://www.example.com/guestbook

I would... but I don't know how. What's a URI?

**costas** · 10-19-2006, 07:05 PM

If I understood well, you want to use links that have that "?" in the end, like "<a href="login.php?user=username">Login</a>". Well, here's an example:

index.html

Code:

<?
$user = $_POST[user];
if(user != NULL)
{
header("Location: members.php?user=$user");
}
?>
....
<body>
<form action="<? echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];?>" method="post">
Username: <input type="text" name="user">
<br><br><input type="submit" value="Login">
</form>
</body>

members.php

Code:

<?
$user = $_GET[user];  // you MUST use the "get" method
if($user == "costas")  // then verify it
echo "Welcome oh COSTAS!!";
else
echo "You are an unauthorized User!";
?>

This is a very simple example, but I hope you understand how it works. If you want a bit bigger and more complex example, I could give you one I've made!!

Hope I helped!!!

**Twey** · 10-19-2006, 07:15 PM

The easiest way to do this is to construct a query-string mechanism as you describe here, then use mod_rewrite or equivalent to map /guestbook to /?page=1.

**mburt** · 10-19-2006, 09:22 PM

Okay.. I think I get it now. Thanks Mwinter, Twey, and costas. PHP is awesome...

**djr33** · 10-19-2006, 09:49 PM

You could, if you're just looking for a nice feel to the url, use page.php?guestbook

Then split the string of the url to work.

PHP Code:


list($addr,$page) = explode($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'],"?",2);
//set the two variables equal to the parts of: URI split at ?, limited to 2 chunks.
echo $page;
//that's "guestbook", etc.

This isn't necessarily a great idea, but it might help. If you want simplicity and a single php page as the basis for navigation, could work well.

Note, though, that a major problem is that you can't use GET variables after this. If you wanted to specify something else with the URI, then the & would have to be there, and it would get messy, as that would be in the $page string as well.
You could do some fancy coding, but it would just be a pain.
In that case, you should definitely use ?page=.... instead. It would also make it clearer when making the URLs.
One ?.... value is easy, but after that, using the normal syntax is much clearer.

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