Please Give Feedback on New URL Structure for India Forums! - Page 2

Originally posted by: vijay

Hi India Forums Members,

We’re working on improving our URL structure to make it more user-friendly, easier to share, and optimized for search engines (SEO). We’d love to get your feedback on two potential options!

Why Are We Making This Change?

• Clarity: Our current URLs like don’t tell you much about the page. By including the forum name and topic subject, URLs will be easier to understand at a glance.
• Better Sharing: Clear, meaningful URLs make it easier to share links with others since the context is right in the URL.
• SEO: Descriptive URLs help search engines better understand our content, which can lead to better rankings and more visibility.
• Shorter URLs: We also looking at shortening to to make URLs cleaner and more concise, inspired by other popular social and discussion sites that use short and efficient URL structures. Our site name reads indiaforums.com so I assume even new users will understand it is for forum. We are open to suggestions and can keep it as /forum.

Proposed Options for the New URL Structure

Option 1: Use with Lowercase Forum Names

This option shortens "forum" to "f" and uses lowercase forum names, which is consistent with our current URL structure.

Examples:

• Forum: /forum/entertainment
• Topic: /forum/bollywood/11121/this-is-topic-subject
• Long Forum Name: /forum/yeh-rishta-kya-kehlata-hai

Pros:

• SEO-Friendly: Using lowercase is consistent with our current URL structure, and search engines prefer simpler, consistent URLs.
• Shorter URLs: Simple and concise, which is great for sharing and easy to read.
• Consistency: Maintaining lowercase across the site keeps things uniform and easy to manage.

Cons:

• Readability: Longer forum names may be harder to read in lowercase, but they still follow a predictable structure.

Option 2: Use with camelCase Forum Names

This option uses camelCase to make longer forum names more readable by capitalizing the first letter of each word.

Examples:

• Forum: /forum/Entertainment
• Topic: /forum/Bollywood/11121/this-is-topic-subject
• Long Forum: /forum/YehRishtaKyaKehlataHai

Pros:

• Shortens the Text: camelCase helps distinguish between words in longer forum names, which can make the URLs look clearer. However this is what is used by Reddit.

Cons:

• Less SEO-Friendly: Mixed-case URLs add complexity for search engines, and since our site currently uses all lowercase, this would introduce inconsistency.
• Inconsistent Typing: Users might find it harder to type and remember URLs with mixed case, leading to possible confusion.

What We Want to Know

• Which option do you prefer and why?
• Do you think with lowercase or camelCase is more user-friendly?
• How important is it for you to keep URLs short and simple vs. improving readability?

We appreciate your thoughts and feedback as we work to enhance your experience here on India Forums!

Thanks,
The India Forums Team

I like option 1 because i feel its more easier to read even if the url is longer

I would prefer all small letters and no spaces or hyphens or any special characters to be typed between the words... just like on Twitter/X

For example #yehrishtakyakehelatahai or #anupamaa.

Originally posted by: vijay

Hi India Forums Members,

We’re working on improving our URL structure to make it more user-friendly, easier to share, and optimized for search engines (SEO). We’d love to get your feedback on two potential options!

Why Are We Making This Change?

• Clarity: Our current URLs like don’t tell you much about the page. By including the forum name and topic subject, URLs will be easier to understand at a glance.
• Better Sharing: Clear, meaningful URLs make it easier to share links with others since the context is right in the URL.
• SEO: Descriptive URLs help search engines better understand our content, which can lead to better rankings and more visibility.
• Shorter URLs: We also looking at shortening to to make URLs cleaner and more concise, inspired by other popular social and discussion sites that use short and efficient URL structures. Our site name reads indiaforums.com so I assume even new users will understand it is for forum. We are open to suggestions and can keep it as /forum.

Proposed Options for the New URL Structure

Option 1: Use with Lowercase Forum Names

This option shortens "forum" to "f" and uses lowercase forum names, which is consistent with our current URL structure.

Examples:

• Forum: /forum/entertainment
• Topic: /forum/bollywood/11121/this-is-topic-subject
• Long Forum Name: /forum/yeh-rishta-kya-kehlata-hai

Pros:

• SEO-Friendly: Using lowercase is consistent with our current URL structure, and search engines prefer simpler, consistent URLs.
• Shorter URLs: Simple and concise, which is great for sharing and easy to read.
• Consistency: Maintaining lowercase across the site keeps things uniform and easy to manage.

Cons:

• Readability: Longer forum names may be harder to read in lowercase, but they still follow a predictable structure.

Option 2: Use with camelCase Forum Names

This option uses camelCase to make longer forum names more readable by capitalizing the first letter of each word.

Examples:

• Forum: /forum/Entertainment
• Topic: /forum/Bollywood/11121/this-is-topic-subject
• Long Forum: /forum/YehRishtaKyaKehlataHai

Pros:

• Shortens the Text: camelCase helps distinguish between words in longer forum names, which can make the URLs look clearer. However this is what is used by Reddit.

Cons:

• Less SEO-Friendly: Mixed-case URLs add complexity for search engines, and since our site currently uses all lowercase, this would introduce inconsistency.
• Inconsistent Typing: Users might find it harder to type and remember URLs with mixed case, leading to possible confusion.

What We Want to Know

• Which option do you prefer and why?
• Do you think with lowercase or camelCase is more user-friendly?
• How important is it for you to keep URLs short and simple vs. improving readability?

We appreciate your thoughts and feedback as we work to enhance your experience here on India Forums!

Thanks,
The India Forums Team

Option 1

Is Best

Thanks For Always Making India Forums A Great Site To Visit Everyday