TYPO3 Routing and Slugs: Readable URLs Explained

Routing and Slugs

The rules by which TYPO3 builds addresses and resolves them back to content.

From path to content

Routing answers two questions: which address a piece of content gets, and which content belongs to a requested address. Both are settled in the site configuration.

For ordinary pages the slug is enough. It gets more interesting with extensions that output records of their own: without configuration, an event detail page would be an address with parameters appended. So-called enhancers move those parameters into the path, turning a technical address into a readable one.

Why the structure should be settled early

Every later change to the address structure drags redirects behind it. That is manageable, but it adds up: rebuild three times and you have three generations of old addresses to serve.

So the question of what addresses should look like belongs at the start of a project, together with the language structure, because the two interlock. There is more on this under TYPO3 SEO.

Several languages

With more than one language, the configuration decides whether a language runs behind a prefix in the path or on a domain of its own. Both are legitimate; what matters is that every language version has an unambiguous address and that the links between them are correct.

Common questions

What is a slug?

The address part of a page, usually derived from the title: “About us” becomes /about-us. TYPO3 stores it as a field of its own on the page record and assembles the full address from the slugs of the pages above it.

Because the slug is a field, it can be changed independently of the title, which is useful when a title is long but the address should stay short.

What happens when we rename a page?

When a slug changes, TYPO3 can create a redirect from the old address to the new one automatically. That is the normal case and should stay switched on.

What matters is reviewing that list from time to time: over the years, chains build up where one address travels through several stops. Pointing directly at the target beats passing it along.