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Can we please get short URLS again?

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Old Apr 4, 2011 | 06:10 PM
  #1  
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Default Can we please get short URLS again?

Adding the name of the forum to each URL pretty much kills the usability gain of having a mobile browser and is highly annoying to those members used to simply changing the last numeric digits to navigate the site. Now we have to delete a bunch of characters, fettle in new ones, or navigate all the way back to the main forum page to get anywhere. It makes the site almost unusable on a mobile device.

Can the URLs please be truncated again?
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Old Apr 4, 2011 | 07:33 PM
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Like this? https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/857637-


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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Old Apr 5, 2011 | 05:03 PM
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+1 for the old URLs
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Old Apr 5, 2011 | 07:17 PM
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Main problem is the forum URLs, not the threads.

Instead of :

https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/forum/4-site-info/

Just make it

https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/forum/4

again.

I understand why the backend would want the forum name associated in such a literal way, but that translates into the following keyboard sequence when trying to go to Car Talk from Site Info for example:

Pull up current forum URL - https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/forum/4-site-info/

Press "delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete"

Type in "73", wait and hope the browser can recommend the URL "73-car-talk"

Otherwise memorize the format and type in "-car-talk" (nine taps)

Where it used to just be delete the "4", type in the "73". So we went from around ~4 taps to ~20 taps just to get to a different forum...

OR, you can just navigate the site, from the forum you're in, navigate up two or more levels to get to the main forum page, then scroll through every forum in one giant list to find where you want to go, and tap.

HUGE increase in effort to get around the site.
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Old Apr 5, 2011 | 07:24 PM
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Hmm, or how about making abbreviated URLs like a bunch of the regional communities have. For example, Oklahoma is ok.s2ki.com, so maybe make Under The Hood something like uth.s2ki.com and Introductions something like intros.s2ki.com, etc.

Just an idea.
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Old Apr 5, 2011 | 07:33 PM
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Originally Posted by Saki GT
Main problem is the forum URLs, not the threads.

Instead of :

https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/forum/4-site-info/

Just make it

https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/forum/4

again.

I understand why the backend would want the forum name associated in such a literal way, but that translates into the following keyboard sequence when trying to go to Car Talk from Site Info for example:

Pull up current forum URL - https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/forum/4-site-info/

Press "delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete"

Type in "73", wait and hope the browser can recommend the URL "73-car-talk"

Otherwise memorize the format and type in "-car-talk" (nine taps)

Where it used to just be delete the "4", type in the "73". So we went from around ~4 taps to ~20 taps just to get to a different forum...

OR, you can just navigate the site, from the forum you're in, navigate up two or more levels to get to the main forum page, then scroll through every forum in one giant list to find where you want to go, and tap.

HUGE increase in effort to get around the site.
Dude, you are seriously making this hard on yourself. If you read my last reply you would know the NAME TEXT IS OPTIONAL. The only difference between what you asked for and how it works is that you didn't end your URL with a dash (-) after the number. It needs the dash because it separates the number from the SEO title with it.

https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/forum/4- works
https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/forum/4-site_info works
https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/forum/4-SITEINFO works
https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/forum/4-FOOBAR works

https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/forum/4 does not work, no dash!

Understand?

The text is there because Googlebot, yahoo, bing, etc like it there. It's called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The text is non-functional. You can delete it, change it, ignore it. You cannot leave off the dash that separates it from the resource ID/number.
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Old Apr 6, 2011 | 06:57 AM
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okaym that makes sense - I will wipe my cache and try with the dash. Thanks,
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Old Apr 6, 2011 | 10:38 AM
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So the down side to this is that after you post a reply, the site defaults to the long URL again. I guess there is no fix for that?
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Old Apr 6, 2011 | 10:57 AM
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Why not just bookmark your favorite forums? I can navigate all the forums I care to without typing any thing. That's even better on a mobile device...
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Old Apr 6, 2011 | 02:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Saki GT
So the down side to this is that after you post a reply, the site defaults to the long URL again. I guess there is no fix for that?
Click the topic number and do opt+left then shift+opt+right then type in the number you want. As some point you are going to have to start figuring some of this out on your own. I'm not changing the URLs so you can reuse your old keyboard shortcuts. That isn't realistic.
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