[CMS] CMS Site structure question - sections or categories?

[ab420]

My site is not very complex, the home page essentially needs to be a blog, nothing too fancy. I originally set up a subsection of the main section, and created categories within that. Since I have all the articles appear on the home page, I end up with the section page being duplicate content. Instead of the setup I have now, should I:
Change the categories to subsections of the main section, and just set them all the display in the main section as well?

My understanding, is that the home page will then show all the articles (like a blog), and each subsection will act like a blog category, thus removing the duplicate content page.

Is that correct? My site is still very new (less than a month) so I can change the structure without major implications, as long as I do it now.

[Trevor Hannant]

If you edit the home section and scroll to the bottom, you can actually control what content is shown on the home page

[ab420]

If you edit the home section and scroll to the bottom, you can actually control what content is shown on the home page

This may sound dumb... but where do I edit the home section? Is it in the front-end or admin panel? On the front-end, my subsection of the main section has a little edit icon, but there is none for the main section.

Is it possible to just use the main section with no subsections?

Here is my section manager, I am trying to move all the articles from the "Betta Fish Articles" section, to the "Main Section"

[GamerPerfection]

You edit the main section through the front end.

The url would end in something like this: /content.php?r=1/edit

Try replacing the 1 with whatever the main section ID is.

Don't know if that helps you but thought i'd give my input.

[ab420]

Thank you, that was what I needed. I realized I had set the CMS front page to be my subsection (in the admincp>settings), that was messing it all up. I changed that to the main section and we're good to go now. Thanks for the help!

[RichieBoy67]

I know this was posted awhile ago but I found it while searching for my issue and it got me curious. if the mods would like me to instead create a new thread just let me know. I surely am not intending to walk over this one.

You mentioned duplicate content.. By Promoting Posts to articles is this indeed classified as duplicate content? Is there a way around this with robots.txt? The only problem I see with that is that I have other non duplicate original content posted in the cms that I would not want blocked with the robots.txt

Seeing as sections and subsections were mentioned I hope it is ok to ask my original question which is what I was searching for. Again, I am happy to create a new thread if needed..

Is it possible in 4.2(with the latest patch) to take a subsection and change it to a main section?

Thanks

[Trevor Hannant]

It could be seen as duplicate content, yes. However, if you're only promoting the odd thread then it shouldn't be an issue. If you were promoting every second one on the other hand...

To move a section's place in the heirarchy, go to:

AdminCP > vBulletin CMS > Section Manager

...find the section you want to move and click the pencil icon next to it. On the pop-up, click on the name of your 'home' section and press Save and it will then move up to a top-level section

[motorcycletalk]

I had this debate with myself too. I might of missed it but what is your website name?

[RichieBoy67]

Thanks, is there any way to post a thread to the cams without doing it as an article? I really want my anon to be able to past threads to the main page when he thinks the threads are worthy. I just do not want them mixed up into my articles.

I know i can use a recent threads widget but I really want the threads to be selected or submitted..not just recent.. Is this possible?

Thanks much

[Trevor Hannant]

The CMS contains articles, the forums contain threads - you can't have threads in the CMS unless you promote/copy and paste them to an article or use a widget to pull it in there as a link.

[RichieBoy67]

Yeah, this is what I am trying to avoid.

One of my admins likes to promote all kinds of threads because they tend to get a better and quicker response there. The thing is we end up with an erticles and a thread both with the exact same content. I just do not think this is good. Not to mention I am in the process of adding some real articles to this site and I think it sort of dilutes this article content by having forum threads mixed in.

I know I could add a recent threads widget on the main page and then I could have the admin maybe sticky the threads he wants on the main page or something like that but it just seems like there should be a simple way to do this without having to have Vbulletin basically copy a forum thread to the cms so we end up with that content just duplicated.

Any ideas or feedback?? Negatives about "promoting" threads to articles? Any tips on getting the best out of a bad situation? Right now I just have a separate category for these member articles threads.. This was never really an issue to recently when I hired a writer for content generation.. Now I am having a major issue with this..

The ultimate solution would be a mod that allows an admin to "display thread on cms page".. Then when a user posts a comment on the main page they will be posting to the actual forum instead of a seperate place called an article..


Thanks for the help buddy. I really appreciate it.