System requirements

Joomla Version

Every Yagendoo product has been exclusively developed for the use under Joomla! 1.5 or later versions.

PHP Version

PHP 5 or higher required! The PHP version 5 or higher is the primary development platform for all Yagendoo add-ons. It won't be a problem if you're still using PHP 4 since your web host normally enables you to use the php version on PHP 5 without problems.

MySQL

MySQL Version 4.1 or higher required. The Yagendoo add-ons have not been tested on a system with MySQL 4.0 and lower.

Server Requirements

To run the Virtuemart SEO, it is essential for the server to support "mod_rewrite".

Commissioning Yagendoo Virtuemart SEO

Installing Yagendoo Virtuemart SEO is pretty easy and takes only few steps. In the following, you will learn how to install and commission the Joomla! standard SEO and our SEO add-on for Virtuemart.

1. Setting up the Joomla! Core SEO

a) Open your Joomla! Backend and navigate to the menu item "Site > Configuration". In the first tab, you will now see an area on the right-hand side titled "Search engine optimization (SEO)".

b) Set the following items to "yes":
- Search engine friendly URLs
- Use Apache mod_rewrite

If you want to attach the file ending to the end of your Joomla! installation's URL, also set the third item "Add suffix to URLs" to yes. Joomla! will accordingly add ".html" to the end of the URL.

c) Open the Joomla! file located on your web space with the FTP program of your choice. The main register of your Joomla! installation will now feature (if you have not renamed this before) a file named "htaccess.txt". Rename this to ".htaccess". (Please note the dot in front of the file name.)

d) Ensure that the Joomla! Core SEO is running without problems and that SEF links are contained. In addition, ensure that all pages can be reached without errors.

2. How to install the Virtuemart SEO

a) Download the Virtuemart using the link sent to you by e-mail after the placement of your order.

b) Unpack the package with the extract software of your choice.

c) You will now see a folder in the package named "files_to_upload", which contains a folder named "components". Re-open your Joomla! folder on your web space using the FTP program of your choice and download the folder "components" to this registry. Note: Ensure that your FTP program does not overwrite the folder but adds the new files to the existing folders and files. Most FTP programs have this as a default setting. Further details on this can be found in the documentation of your FTP program. d) It is essential that you create a menu item on your Virtuemart start page that is also published. If you do not want this menu item to appear on screen, you can alternatively scroll the menu item into a so-called "hidden menu". Further information on the "hidden menu" feature can be found on the relevant Joomla! web sites. Google's your friend here!

The Virtuemart SEO installation is already completed now and you should receive search engine friendly URLs containing numbers in the front end of your page. These are the category and product IDs.

Note: From the SEO point of view, these figures pose no problem and won't have any negative effect on the results of your search engine optimization!

How to configure the Yagendoo Virtuemart SEO

The Virtuemart SEO does not have a specific configuration and rewrites the existing Virtuemart links in a way to make them readable for search engines. Since the Yagendoo Virtuemart SEO is not database based to ensure better performance and thus does not save links, Virtuemart needs a point of reference for the products and categories. This can be a number in the URL or a Joomla! menu item for the target address.

 

For the numbers (IDs) to disappear from the URL, you have to create a Joomla! menu item for each Virtuemart category and the products. (As mentioned before, IDs in URLs won't have any negative effect on the search engine optimization. Consequently, you don't have to link every single product.)

However, if you want to do without the IDs in the URL, proceed as follows when linking:

1. Link all categories and sub-categories

a) Navigate to your Joomla! menu manager and create a new Virtuemart menu item

b) You'll see the Virtuemart component's parameters on the right-hand side of the display. Enter the category ID of the respective category here.

c) Assign the newly created menu item to the main menu for Virtuemart. If it refers to a sub-category, assign it to the menu item of the category above.

c) OPTIONALLY repeat this for the menu items of the products. Note: The right-hand side displays a screen shot showing what the menu structure should look like.

The installation and setting-up of the Virtuemart SEO is now complete. Enjoy and succeed with clean Virtuemart SEF links free of duplicate content and meaningless links.