Joomla 3.8 brings major changes to the URL structure of new Joomla sites.

Existing sites won't be impacted, but new sites may want to use these improvements.

Differences between the old URLs and new URLs

First, to understand how important this improvement is, let's see a current Joomla URL:

www.example.com/index.php/category-alias/99-article-alias

In the previous line, 99 is the article ID number. However, 99 has no meaning to search engines or human visitors. The new Joomla 3.8 routing system will remove the ID number to generate cleaner URLs:

www.example.com/index.php/category-alias/article-alias

Enable the new URLs

The URL feature can be turned on for individual components. For example, here's how to enable the new URLs for articles:

• Login to your Joomla administrator.
• Go to Content > Articles.
• Click the "Options" button.

• Click the "Integration" tab.
• Set URL Routing to "Experimental".

• Set Remove IDs from URLs to "Yes".
• Click "Save & Close".

You can also enable the feature for Contacts, News Feeds, and Users. In each case, you go to the "Options" area and the "Integration" tab. Here's where you enable the new URLs for com_contact:

Summary

This URL feature has taken a long time to arrive, and I'm glad it's finally here. Kudos to Hannes Papenberg who put a lot of hard work into this change. 

This URL feature does not need to be enabled. You can happily keep your current URL setup. However, for new sites, I definitely will encourge people to use these improved URLs.

About the author

Valentín creates beautiful designs from amongst the tequila plants of Jalisco, Mexico. You can see Valentín's design work all over this site and you can often find him helping members in support.