[SOLVED] Converting Cntnt to Int Links pg count still high?

[genestevo]

Hi Guys,
Through lack of forethought and bad management on my part I find myself trying to rid http://www.historypoints.org/ of oodles of redundant pages which I'm converting into internal page links instead of almost empty content. This is because of what appears to be a ridiculously/unnecessarily high page count which continually results in whitepageitous.
I've been trying to streamline things as best as I can but notice that in site admin/system maintenance/Cache and content the page count isn't going down unless I actually delete a complete page. Turning a page into a link pointing to existing children doesn't seem to be helping.
Am I missing something or is this normal. I hope it is as I've got an absolute shedload of cleaning up to do.
Cheers,
Eugene.

[Dr.CSS]

I still think you may have too many pages with only this type of content in it and nothing else...

Choose an area of Ceredigion from the menu on the left.

[genestevo]

Cheers Dr CSS,
I've only just got into the clean up process, in fact I reckon I've just scratched the surface.
I was really just trying to ensure I wasn't doing anything wrong as the page count in Cache & Content wasn't getting any lower even though I'd converted several pages into Internal Page Links.
Thanks anyway for reminding me of the scale of the exercise
How does it go...Perfect Planning Prevents....

[paulbaker]

Had a look at your site. Have you considered ditching Pages completely and going down another route? Perhaps using module Products would work? Products don't have to be physical things - they could be your hi points, and you can add drop down fields for county and so your visitor might then be able to search for all items in Denbighshire and it would show Structures, Natural items, Memorials etc. on one results page. Then, as your geographic coverage grows your menu won't. Might be worth considering.

[genestevo]

Thank you so much Paul for having a look at the site.
I'll certainly have a look at that as an option for the next phase which is going to be a separate installation for historypoints.uk as we're getting enquires from England but don't want to mix them in with the existing site which was intended to be exclusively Welsh.
My pal, who does most of the uploads/creation of pages (who's daft idea this was in the first place) has wanted to "march on England" for ages but I'm not happy till we've got something more manageable in place. Considering I was only supposed to be setting this up so he could indulge his hobby I now find I've got hold of a tiger by the tail and daren't let go
One question, is it possible to migrate from "pages" to "products" or is it a manual process.
Thanks again for the advice, greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Eugene

[calguy1000]

Turning a page into a link pointing to existing children doesn't seem to be helping.

This is correct. A content page, and a page link, or redirecting link, or section header, etc. are all basically the same. They read the same data from the same database table(s).... and only render themselves differently in the admin and on the frontend.

Changing a content page to a page link will have negligible effect on your memory footprint.

[genestevo]

Thanks Calguy for clarifying that. Trouble is, now I've seen the extent of the redundant pages I can't not tidy them up as it where. It's all those wasted "clicks" by the poor user, I can't stand to see them.
Comes from being borderline CDO (OCD but arranged alphabetically, like it should be...which is more than can be said for some of our menus , the re-order pages option rocks BTW)
Thanks for your continued support and unless I'm directed to a magic "migrate to module X" button, it's copy, paste and "anchors away" (and a serious plea to my pal about how deep do you really need to go...) He's a real pro' journo as well. A couple of extra words in a menu listing can save how many pages...?
Cheers,
Eugene.

[paulbaker]

One question, is it possible to migrate from "pages" to "products" or is it a manual process.
Thanks again for the advice, greatly appreciated.

You're welcome. It's a manual process I'm afraid, there's no option to automatically translate because your Products set up will be different to everybody else's. If you have a go at setting it up in a test area I am sure the forum will help with questions.

[genestevo]

Thanks to all for your assistance once again.
Can I just ask one question before I slope off to mould some anchors...?
Our pages are intended to be accessible via their URL's being embedded in QR codes forming mini-plaques or window stickers (about 900 or so in place already).
Therefore each page (History Point site) must have it's own URL.
If I transfer our current site/build the next phase using something like Paul's Products Module, are we still going to able to maintain/create unique URLs for each HiPoint location?
Isn't that going to maintain the existing high records count or do I need to learn more about data bases?
Thanks to all for your ongoing support,
Cheers,
Eugene.

[paulbaker]

For the record it's not my Products module (although I don't think you meant it in that way), it was written by core developer Calguy, to whom we all owe a lot IMHO.

Individual "products" have their own unique URL, here's an example of the format:
"http://www.example.com/portfolio/13/Redwood-school
If necessary you'll be able to re-point to your QR code URL with some mod_rewrite code.

Best idea is spend an hour fiddling: install the module, have a play setting up some fields and some dummy data, then create a test page (untick show in menu) which you can access to see how {Products} displays itself. There are search options etc.

Isn't that going to maintain the existing high records count or do I need to learn more about data bases

I believe the issue here is particularly the number of pages - I believe CMSMS will cope with thousands of Products records.

There might even be a better solution - CompanyDirectory perhaps? That has location stuff built in. Each "company" would be a hi point. Again, worth a bit of investigation.

[genestevo]

Thanks Paul. At least now I've an idea how those with shedloads of pages do it
I'll have a play.
Cheers,
Eugene.

[calguy1000]

products (or any other module) will generate it's own URLS to its different items. If you have stickers out there with QR codes on them pointing to working URLS you will need to map the existing URLS to the new ones. Using rewrite rules in your .htaccess is the proper method for doing this.

[genestevo]

Thanks Calguy, It's so good to realise all is not lost.
All I need now are some more hours in the day
Marking this a [SOLVED]
Cheers,
Eugene.