Can't browse directly to article alias

Question

I have an article that I want to link to directly using html rather than create a menu item that links to it. I was able to do this in Drupal but when I try the same thing in Joomla it doesn't seem to work, i.e. when I type in www.mysite.com/legal-notice I get a 404 error. If I add the article as a menu item then I can do this, but then I notice that the menu item has an alias as well, which is the same, so maybe it is just that that I am navigating to rather than the article alias.

Is this just something you can't do in Joomla? Surely not? I have SEF urls turned on, btw.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, there's no simple way to achieve what you want. When you create a menu item, your link goes to the menu item alias, not to the article alias.

So you need a menu item for your article, but you don't have to show the menu item. This can be achieved in two ways:

Hidden menu

1. Create a new menu (Menus → Manage → Add New Menu). Call it anything you want, e.g. "Hidden menu".
2. Create a menu item linking to your article, and set the alias to what you want the URL to be, like legal-notice.
3. That's it, you can now view your article at www.mysite.com/legal-notice, even if the menu isn't displayed anywhere on your website.

Invisible menu item

1. Create a menu item in your main menu, linking to your article, and set the alias to what you want the URL to be, like legal-notice.

2. In the "Link Type" tab, set "Display in Menu" to No. This will hide your menu item.

   

3. That's it, you can now view your article at www.mysite.com/legal-notice, even if the menu item isn't displayed anywhere on your website.