Question from a member:

Where can I change the maximum allowed length (in characters) of the permalinks for a post?

There appear to be three possible solutions:

1. Don't use really long URL's Long URLs are ugly, using them isn't doing your visitors any favors and long URLs can break in an email (a broken URL is an unlinked URL). Generally speaking, URLs should be short, easy to type and unique.

   You can specify a long title (e.g., Watch Me Kill The President! (Jan 13) "Ridiculous In America" on ABC ), but then a shorter "URL Title" (e.g., killing_the_president). There is a spot for this in the Back Office. You don't HAVE TO use your title as the default "URL Title". Many people do this when they have a long title.

   We recommend this 'short URL' solution over anything else.

   HOWEVER ... search engines parse the title for words .. (not sure how they handle the underscores) but you *might* end up with better rankings with a long (and descriptive) title. (We've discovered some interesting information regarding rankings and URLs, which you can read about on the last page, below).

2. Use "Post called up by its URL title". A possible solution if your server supports "clean urls" or "extra-path info". (To set this option in the back office, go to ... settings --> Link Options --> select the "Use extra-path into" box.

   ** WARNING ** Windows-based servers currently do not support this option.

   Instead of "URL title", try "Post on archive page, located by it's title". This may achieve most of what you're looking for, as it yields the full title in the URL and doesn't require any core file hacking.

3. Hack your b2evolution installation to allow for longer URLs. There are some changes you must make to enable really LONG urls. Here's what you do ...(depending on which version you have, select the correct page, below). Unsure?

At Last: <Tags> Not &lt;Tags&gt;

If you have tried posting XHMTL, PHP, CSS or other code into a blog entry, then you'll appreciate the "Display Code" plugin. It provides an easy-to-use, functional and good-looking way of inserting code directly into a post. The best part? Code characters are converted to entity values on-the-fly! The code in your post will always look identical to the code in your original script!

No longer do you need to pre-process code using 3rd-party scripts like Simple Code. They had their place, but now the conversion engine is built into b2evolution, via this remarkable plugin. The plugin also adds line-numbers and alternating line colors, which can be customized to suit your site, via CSS styling. Plus, the code you enter is "real code", both when you enter it and when you edit it! (You no longer have to wade through entity values when you need to modify a line). :D

Demonstration & Benefits

The features of this Astonish Me! "display code" plugin are listed below (in a code-like demonstration of the plugin).

Designed for b2evolution "Summer" v1.8 or higher.

If you display computer code on your site, then you'll want this Astonish Me! "Display Code" plugin. Read on for intallation, usage and other documentation.