I am trying to create anchor tags within posts but having trouble with the abrupt jumping and a url change. If you look at the URL below for example, if you click on any of the internal subheading links from the article, there is a "smooth scroll" down to that point in the page. The URL also stays the same.
When you would do the same for the article below where I have added anchor tags, there is an abrupt jump and the URL adds another parameter at the end such as /#anchor2.
The effect you are looking for is managed by JavaScript and would need to be implemented as a separate piece of development.
Essentially, what happens is that you create a link to a location on the page (e.g. a header title of a subsection). This location has a unique ID (prefixed with a 'hash' character) and the JavaScript measures the location of this ID in the browser window. Once the associated link is clicked the JavaScript 'goes' to that location using one of several effects from the JavaScript animations library (usually, we use the 'ease-in-out' animation effect).
You need to be extremely careful with your IDs. Giving them semantic names will help technical SEO and you must also make sure that they are always unique (no duplication).
We can research to see if their is an approved plugin solution for this for you, or we can cost up a whitespider solution for you. Just let me know which you prefer.
Incidentally, your website is due its quarterly maintenance next Mon / Tues, so we will be taking backups and doing the necessary updates / upgrades then and will confirm when everything has been completed.
Ok thanks Damien, will think some more about this. When you say unique names do you mean I cant have add anchor tags to the name 'New York' for instance in two different articles? Also the issue about the ability to keep the url the same is something we need to sort out. Once we click one of these internal links that jumps to a subheading - can this be fixed?
Re the updates will you check I don't get the issue where the links dont open in the same windows again? I think sometimes that happens when the plug-ins are updated.
The URLs IDs only need to unique on the same page. It's fine to use the same ID on a different post.
However, these are IDs and, while they are prepended to the URL, they don't necessarily have to be shown on page. So you could have a header title like 'New York' with an ID of 'new-york' (URL: https://..../#new-york) and a second header title 'New York' with an ID of 'new-york-2' (URL: https://..../#new-york-2).
The only constraint is to not duplicate the IDs as this will confuse the 'scroll-to' system and will create potential SEO issues for you.
Your site is going to be going through its maintenance upgrades tomorrow morning at approx. 6:30am. Is it safe to do the upgrades then, or will you be adding / editing content at that time?
Thanks Damien, 630 is fine - will it be ok for me to work on by 9am?
Im still not sure about the ability to keep the url the same once we click one of these internal links - as it jumps to a subheading. I don't want the user to see a URL change. Is that just a plug-in I need?
I begun the updates and maintenance at 6:05 am and everything has bee completed now. This message outlines everything:
Issues identified before commencing updates
1. You have old, unused, themes in your WordPress themes folder. Old themes can create a 'back door' for hackers as they are not maintained, often no longer supported by the authors / developers and, as they are publicly licenced open-source code, the source is available to the public, where hackers can study them to identify vulnerabilities. I have attached a screenshot of these themes in your hosting. I recommend that we delete the 'twentysixteen' theme in its entirety. As there is no official WP theme named 'default', I recommend we investigate this theme and, if safe to do so, that we delete it also. Let me know how you would like to proceed.
2. The advertising sidebar is forcing a layer on to your pages (example attached is from the home page) that is creating a UX problem. Specifically, the advert is forcing what is called a 'z-order' rule on the page which imposes the advert above the page container, but beneath the content blocks. This appears to be related to your active WP theme (SimpleMag) and, therefore, any solution would potentially involve interfering with the theme's source code. If you are aware of this issue and are happy to ignore it, then no further action is required. If you wish for it to be resolved you can raise a separate ticket for this and we will investigate further. It is a low-priority issue and has no effect on security or performance in the vast majority of user interaction and UX on your website.
3. Google compliance now prefers sites with the HSTS header protocol declared explicitly. This declaration insists to search engines that the site is not to be accessed under the HTTP protocol, but only the HTTPS protocol. This 'insistence' carries some requirements with it, but we should examine your site for compatibility and add the declaration. We could schedule this for the middle of November, if you want to go ahead.
Pre Upgrade Steps
1. Before commencing a comprehensive upgrade to software we take a backup of every component of the website, including the database. We then do a test restore of these backups to ensure that, in the event of a catastrophic problem during upgrade, we can roll the site back safely. These backups were taken yesterday for your site and the test restore was performed successfully this morning at 5:40am
2. All plugins to be updated should be examined for compatibility, bugs and general performance / conflict issues. We use a paid service for this exercise and found it safe to update all plugins with the exception of the REDUX Framework. Wile the framework update is stable, there are some unknowns as to how it will perform when updated alongside your active WP theme. The current version on your site is safe to retain without upgrade at this time and we have left it as is until new information indicates that it is safe to proceed with the upgrade.
The Upgrade
1. As you are on the latest version of WordPress, no upgrade to the platform core was required.
2. 18 of 19 plugins (all except the REDUX Framework) were upgraded and tested. The testing and scanning for coding conflicts has indicated a successful upgrade in every case. The issue re links opening incorrectly has not occurred. Please let us know if you see any unusual behaviour in the next 24 hours. All indications are that the upgrade was successful.
Next Steps
1. General vigilance over the next 24 hours
2. Decision to be made about deleting old, unused, themes.
3. Decision to made about adding HSTS declaration
4. Decision to be made about the advertising sidebar z-score issue
Regarding your other questions (email and scroll-to links), let me come back to you re the scroll-to links later today. I am not explaining it very well and may only have confused you further. I will try to clarify later today. For the email, the test message I sent was left in situ and then deleted last week. The fact that it a) remained in your GMail, and b) did not restore itself in your TTE webmail is very encouraging. However, as GMail has certain cycles for permanent deletions and email restores, we want to ensure that a full month as transpired before making a final conclusion.
I have a note in our schedule to confirm the status of this by 16th November. If nothing changes by then, we feel comfortable that the GMail API is NOT interfering with the email deletes and we will contact you for permission to delete sizeable batch of email (approx. 200 mails) to further confirm this. If that test goes well, we will work with SiteGround to ensure that the full-scale deletion can proceed and get your webmail down to under 6GB.
I will be in touch later re the scroll-to links. If you have any other questions, please reply through this ticket.
That all looks great and you can go ahead and delete the old unused themes. Let me talk to Cormac about some of the other issues. Re the side bar, this is something I have agreed with Mediavine but I am hoping that I will be able to remove one of the display ads from it which should make it look a bit better so leave that with me. I have hired someone to help drive traffic and he is adamant that the anchor tags will make a difference to SEO so can you get back to me on this asap? Below is the best way to explain it from his side - hope this helps.
Cheers
Sarah
The question is how can the URL appear the same to the user.
If you hover over any of the five anchor links using chrome on a normal laptop, you can see the /# appear in the bottom left corner. However when you click on it the URL in the address bar stays the exact same after jumping. So it's like in the backend of Wordpress the anchor has been made but in the front end the URL of the article stays static the whole time no matter where you jump to.
No problem. We'll delete the old themes today. Just let me know if Cormac comes back with any questions regarding the other points.
For the anchor links, we don't fully agree with your SEO and certainly would be surprised to hear that anyone is 'adamant' about this. It is not black & white and we have opinions on it. But, as this is a development question and not part of support, we don't want to delay you. The best thing to do is to get you the solution we think you're looking for and let you decide if you want us to cost it up and implement it as part of new development, or if you want to go a different route.
You can achieve your objective of having smooth scroll-to animations to designated page anchors with or without changing the URL by having us develop the solution or by using an available plugin.
The two plugins which have the best reputations for this are:
Plugin #1 is well maintained but does not yet work with Gutenburg and will need some amendments for compatibility to WP v5.0, when this major release is issued.
Plugin #2 is not well maintained, but has additional features and settings that give you more granular control over the behaviour of the feature on your frontend.
Our own development schedule is full until mid-November, so one option would be to try either plugin and if you're finding difficulties you could then revert to us to build a bespoke solution for you.
Just let us know what you'd like to do and we'll assist.
Hi there
I am trying to create anchor tags within posts but having trouble with the abrupt jumping and a url change. If you look at the URL below for example, if you click on any of the internal subheading links from the article, there is a "smooth scroll" down to that point in the page. The URL also stays the same.
https://www.holidayguru.ie/travel-magazine/best-things-santorini/
When you would do the same for the article below where I have added anchor tags, there is an abrupt jump and the URL adds another parameter at the end such as /#anchor2.
https://thetravelexpert.ie/travel-expert-article/the-ten-best-movies-to-showcase-italy
https://thetravelexpert.ie/travel-expert-article/the-ten-best-movies-to-showcase-italy/#anchor2
I'm wondering if there is some sort of code that can be implemented to make this smooth scroll a default setting?
Thanks
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
The effect you are looking for is managed by JavaScript and would need to be implemented as a separate piece of development.
Essentially, what happens is that you create a link to a location on the page (e.g. a header title of a subsection). This location has a unique ID (prefixed with a 'hash' character) and the JavaScript measures the location of this ID in the browser window. Once the associated link is clicked the JavaScript 'goes' to that location using one of several effects from the JavaScript animations library (usually, we use the 'ease-in-out' animation effect).
You need to be extremely careful with your IDs. Giving them semantic names will help technical SEO and you must also make sure that they are always unique (no duplication).
We can research to see if their is an approved plugin solution for this for you, or we can cost up a whitespider solution for you. Just let me know which you prefer.
Incidentally, your website is due its quarterly maintenance next Mon / Tues, so we will be taking backups and doing the necessary updates / upgrades then and will confirm when everything has been completed.
Kind regards,
Damian
Whitespider Support Admin
Whitespider Web Development
Ok thanks Damien, will think some more about this. When you say unique names do you mean I cant have add anchor tags to the name 'New York' for instance in two different articles? Also the issue about the ability to keep the url the same is something we need to sort out. Once we click one of these internal links that jumps to a subheading - can this be fixed?
Re the updates will you check I don't get the issue where the links dont open in the same windows again? I think sometimes that happens when the plug-ins are updated.
Thanks a mill.
Sarah
Hi Damien
Just checking you received my last reply, Im still wondering about the duplication issue and keeping the url the same? Thanks, Sarah
Hi Sarah,
The URLs IDs only need to unique on the same page. It's fine to use the same ID on a different post.
However, these are IDs and, while they are prepended to the URL, they don't necessarily have to be shown on page. So you could have a header title like 'New York' with an ID of 'new-york' (URL: https://..../#new-york) and a second header title 'New York' with an ID of 'new-york-2' (URL: https://..../#new-york-2).
The only constraint is to not duplicate the IDs as this will confuse the 'scroll-to' system and will create potential SEO issues for you.
Your site is going to be going through its maintenance upgrades tomorrow morning at approx. 6:30am. Is it safe to do the upgrades then, or will you be adding / editing content at that time?
Kind regards,
Damian
Whitespider Support Admin
Whitespider Web Development
Thanks Damien, 630 is fine - will it be ok for me to work on by 9am?
Im still not sure about the ability to keep the url the same once we click one of these internal links - as it jumps to a subheading. I don't want the user to see a URL change. Is that just a plug-in I need?
Hi Sarah,
I begun the updates and maintenance at 6:05 am and everything has bee completed now. This message outlines everything:
Issues identified before commencing updates
1. You have old, unused, themes in your WordPress themes folder. Old themes can create a 'back door' for hackers as they are not maintained, often no longer supported by the authors / developers and, as they are publicly licenced open-source code, the source is available to the public, where hackers can study them to identify vulnerabilities. I have attached a screenshot of these themes in your hosting. I recommend that we delete the 'twentysixteen' theme in its entirety. As there is no official WP theme named 'default', I recommend we investigate this theme and, if safe to do so, that we delete it also. Let me know how you would like to proceed.
2. The advertising sidebar is forcing a layer on to your pages (example attached is from the home page) that is creating a UX problem. Specifically, the advert is forcing what is called a 'z-order' rule on the page which imposes the advert above the page container, but beneath the content blocks. This appears to be related to your active WP theme (SimpleMag) and, therefore, any solution would potentially involve interfering with the theme's source code. If you are aware of this issue and are happy to ignore it, then no further action is required. If you wish for it to be resolved you can raise a separate ticket for this and we will investigate further. It is a low-priority issue and has no effect on security or performance in the vast majority of user interaction and UX on your website.
3. Google compliance now prefers sites with the HSTS header protocol declared explicitly. This declaration insists to search engines that the site is not to be accessed under the HTTP protocol, but only the HTTPS protocol. This 'insistence' carries some requirements with it, but we should examine your site for compatibility and add the declaration. We could schedule this for the middle of November, if you want to go ahead.
Pre Upgrade Steps
1. Before commencing a comprehensive upgrade to software we take a backup of every component of the website, including the database. We then do a test restore of these backups to ensure that, in the event of a catastrophic problem during upgrade, we can roll the site back safely. These backups were taken yesterday for your site and the test restore was performed successfully this morning at 5:40am
2. All plugins to be updated should be examined for compatibility, bugs and general performance / conflict issues. We use a paid service for this exercise and found it safe to update all plugins with the exception of the REDUX Framework. Wile the framework update is stable, there are some unknowns as to how it will perform when updated alongside your active WP theme. The current version on your site is safe to retain without upgrade at this time and we have left it as is until new information indicates that it is safe to proceed with the upgrade.
The Upgrade
1. As you are on the latest version of WordPress, no upgrade to the platform core was required.
2. 18 of 19 plugins (all except the REDUX Framework) were upgraded and tested. The testing and scanning for coding conflicts has indicated a successful upgrade in every case. The issue re links opening incorrectly has not occurred. Please let us know if you see any unusual behaviour in the next 24 hours. All indications are that the upgrade was successful.
Next Steps
1. General vigilance over the next 24 hours
2. Decision to be made about deleting old, unused, themes.
3. Decision to made about adding HSTS declaration
4. Decision to be made about the advertising sidebar z-score issue
Regarding your other questions (email and scroll-to links), let me come back to you re the scroll-to links later today. I am not explaining it very well and may only have confused you further. I will try to clarify later today. For the email, the test message I sent was left in situ and then deleted last week. The fact that it a) remained in your GMail, and b) did not restore itself in your TTE webmail is very encouraging. However, as GMail has certain cycles for permanent deletions and email restores, we want to ensure that a full month as transpired before making a final conclusion.
I have a note in our schedule to confirm the status of this by 16th November. If nothing changes by then, we feel comfortable that the GMail API is NOT interfering with the email deletes and we will contact you for permission to delete sizeable batch of email (approx. 200 mails) to further confirm this. If that test goes well, we will work with SiteGround to ensure that the full-scale deletion can proceed and get your webmail down to under 6GB.
I will be in touch later re the scroll-to links. If you have any other questions, please reply through this ticket.
Thank you,
Damian
Whitespider Support Admin
Whitespider Web Development
Hi Damien
That all looks great and you can go ahead and delete the old unused themes. Let me talk to Cormac about some of the other issues. Re the side bar, this is something I have agreed with Mediavine but I am hoping that I will be able to remove one of the display ads from it which should make it look a bit better so leave that with me. I have hired someone to help drive traffic and he is adamant that the anchor tags will make a difference to SEO so can you get back to me on this asap? Below is the best way to explain it from his side - hope this helps.
Cheers
Sarah
The question is how can the URL appear the same to the user.
I would use an Urlaubsguru example https://www.urlaubsguru.de/reisemagazin/kasachstan/.
If you hover over any of the five anchor links using chrome on a normal laptop, you can see the /# appear in the bottom left corner. However when you click on it the URL in the address bar stays the exact same after jumping. So it's like in the backend of Wordpress the anchor has been made but in the front end the URL of the article stays static the whole time no matter where you jump to.
Hi Sarah,
No problem. We'll delete the old themes today. Just let me know if Cormac comes back with any questions regarding the other points.
For the anchor links, we don't fully agree with your SEO and certainly would be surprised to hear that anyone is 'adamant' about this. It is not black & white and we have opinions on it. But, as this is a development question and not part of support, we don't want to delay you. The best thing to do is to get you the solution we think you're looking for and let you decide if you want us to cost it up and implement it as part of new development, or if you want to go a different route.
You can achieve your objective of having smooth scroll-to animations to designated page anchors with or without changing the URL by having us develop the solution or by using an available plugin.
The two plugins which have the best reputations for this are:
1. https://wordpress.org/plugins/scroll-to-anchor/
2. https://wordpress.org/plugins/easy-smooth-scroll-links/
Plugin #1 is well maintained but does not yet work with Gutenburg and will need some amendments for compatibility to WP v5.0, when this major release is issued.
Plugin #2 is not well maintained, but has additional features and settings that give you more granular control over the behaviour of the feature on your frontend.
Our own development schedule is full until mid-November, so one option would be to try either plugin and if you're finding difficulties you could then revert to us to build a bespoke solution for you.
Just let us know what you'd like to do and we'll assist.
Thank you,
Damian
Whitespider Support Admin
Whitespider Web Development