[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #6481: Fancy permalinks should be enabled on new sites

[WordPress Trac]

#6481: Fancy permalinks should be enabled on new sites
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 Reporter:  Denis-de-Bernardy  |       Owner:
     Type:  enhancement        |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal             |   Milestone:  4.2
Component:  Permalinks         |     Version:  2.7
 Severity:  normal             |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch          |     Focuses:
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Comment (by greenshady):

 We should all probably take a step back and think about what blog posts
 are.  They are date-sensitive content types.  Outside of the post content
 and title, the date is often the most important information about the
 post.  Of course, this is not true for every blog, just most of them.

 The main reason I'd argue to keep the
 `/%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/` structure is because that's always
 been (AFAIK) WP's default pretty permalink structure.  It's that first
 option to get away from ugly permalinks.  I don't see any reason to change
 that.

 Is that structure bad SEO? It's never been an issue for me.  I imagine it
 plays a minor, if any, role in SEO, despite what "every SEO guide on the
 planet" has to say about it.  I've used various structures on different
 sites over the years and have yet to see a benefit of any of them as far
 as SEO is concerned.

 The best thing about all of this is that you have the same choice of
 changing the permalink structure that you've always had.

 Replying to [comment:87 joostdevalk]:
 > From a usability perspective, good URLs should be short and memorable,
 including the date automatically makes them longer and harder to remember,
 without adding much.

 I can see remembering a Web site's URL, but who actually remembers post
 URLs?  That's what bookmarks and other systems for saving URLs are for.

 > The date is meta data, no more important than say the author, we don't
 include that in the permalink either.

 I've worked with several people who include the author in the permalink.
 It just depends on what's needed for the specific site.

 > Going for date / postname assumes far too much about the type of news
 posts people write.

 Going for `/%postname%` equally assumes far too much, maybe even more
 considering that blog posts are date-sensitive content types on most
 blogs.  Anything we go with would be making an assumption one way or
 another.

 > If the general feeling is towards adding dates, we could also make this
 a question during the installation process?

 Many, I'd wager, wouldn't know what to do with that question when first
 installing WordPress.  That's more of an advanced setting that probably
 doesn't belong in installation.

 Replying to [comment:93 Kenshino]:
 > The only time when one actually likely looks at the date in the url is
 after one actually clicks on it. Good usability, good user experience
 prevents people from clicking on the wrong things. Looking at the URL for
 the correct date is a step too late.

 The URL is the first place I and many others look for the date.  Since my
 eyes are already focused on the URL when clicking a link, I immediately
 notice a date.  That's not too late.  It's right on time.  And, it's very
 helpful info.  It tells me two things right off the bat:

 * What the actual published date is.
 * That I can most likely drill down through the archive hierarchy provided
 there are no links to do so.

 Neither of these things are actually necessary.  However, they do add some
 additional value for some users.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6481#comment:96>
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