vl3

If you have ever come across a Moodle course you will find that the URL shown in the address bar of your browser looks something like:

http://yoursite.co.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=3

However if you have ever come across other web based systems, a Wordpress blog for instance, you will find that the URL in your address bar looks a little more descriptive:

http://frogmatters.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/northern-leopard-frogs-in-washingon-probably-doomed-by-ebola-for-frogs/

The link to the FrogMatters Wordpress blog (A bit over descriptive in this example) is clearly the better URL, it tells me a lot more about the site im visiting however all Moodle tells me is ‘3′…..

So can I achive this in Moodle?

YES!!!!

In Moodle when you create a course you enter a ‘Full Name’ and a ‘Short Name’ which are both required fields,

E.g.

Fullname: Moodle supports shortname linking
Shortname: wow!!!

This creates: http://edumoodle.veloxserv.co.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=3

But I could also get to this page via this link:

http://edumoodle.veloxserv.co.uk/moodle/course/view.php?name=wow!!!

How very cool and how very useful!

Policies used in industry:

Wall Street Journal

BBC

New York Times

The Mom Litmus Test

Of course, airtight policies are often less effective than common-sense advice. Brad McCormick, executive vice president of digital communications at PR agency Porter Novelli (OMC) likes to make it easy for his staff to use their own judgment. When in doubt, he tells employees using Twitter, “don’t say anything you wouldn’t say to your mom.”