About the default value of the meta tag canonical

The Blocs was outputting a domain I didn’t know.
Is this the default value for Canonical Meta?
I don’t think meta tags should be allowed if the web address is blank.

Reproduction procedure:

  1. Blank WEB address setting.
  2. Enable Canonical Meta Tag.
  3. Output HTML.

Corresponding URL:
http://setTheBaseURLInProjectSettings.com/〜

Image:

That looks like a tag, that should be replaced or removed based on your project settings.

Please report it.

https://help.blocsapp.com/knowledge-base/reporting-bugs/#report-your-bug

Thank you Malachiman for your reply.
I submitted a bug report as prompted. (^o^)

That is normal behaviour.

Canonical tags require a base URL to be set in project settings, just like the URL is instructing.

I’ll see if I can add a more visual in app warning for this.

2 Likes

Maybe make the project website a mandatory field when creating a new project.

I think those who just open Blocs to mess around will find that irritating.

2 Likes

Blocs 4.1 will now include a warning to help others with the same issue. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

5 Likes

That makes sense. Thanks

1 Like

Wait a minute, don’t finish the story.

The biggest problem here is that you don’t notice if you don’t know.

Even if you put information you don’t know in a place you don’t know, no one will see or notice it.
If you want to display a note, you need to put it out when people are paying attention.
If you just want to explain with notes, turn off meta tags by default.
If you see a note when you turn on the meta tag, you’ll understand it.

However, since it is on by default now, the wrong URL remains embedded without noticing it.

I didn’t notice until I investigated the WEB page.
I think it’s a common mistake for authors of some pages on a site, not the entire site like me.
URL links to the wrong site should not be easily tolerated.

@CyberCatfish,
You brought up an excellent point. While I liked Norms simple solution, considering the tight release schedule I’m sure he’s trying to keep, I hear what you’re saying.

This is basically a UX/Usability issue, and from what I’ve gathered from hanging out in this forum and using Blocs, Blocs seems to want to meet both Designers(non-coders) and Developers somewhere in the middle, and for this reason I believe there are some areas in Blocs where what may seem like common sense to a seasoned developers, is not for others. And this particular situation may be just that.
With that said…

@Norm,
Considering that designers and developers will be using Blocs, in where the users may or may not be aware of the web address requirement to make use of CMT, as well as the time to implement (without breaking anything), below is an idea similar to yours that I think might help in ensuring users (whether knowledgeable or not) to navigate this situation in the future. This can help reduce tickets that may be related to this, as well as reduce or eliminate future discussions in the forum surrounding this issue.

1a) Have a notice in the “New Project” pop-up when starting a new projects indicating CMT will not be added to pages unless a site URL is entered.
1b) Also provide a tooltip with information on CMT (same as what’s in page settings now).
2) This can also be added to the “Project Settings” modal.
3) Make the CMT checkbox inactive (and disabled) in Page settings if a URL was not entered. If a URL is then entered, this checkbox is then made active, and enabled by default.

See sample UI mock-ups. Any thoughts?
1)

Thanks for the feedback, the canonical tag is not the only aspect of the site that is effected by the site URL being left blank.

So it’s a touch misleading to make it look like it’s main purpose is for canonical.

@CyberCatfish yes it’s a good point. What I’ll actually do is leave the warning in place but not include the tag in the html unless the site address is populated. This way users won’t get unwanted code but there is also a cue if they view the SEO page settings tab.

2 Likes

I’ve tweaked this for social cards too, basically if no site address is populated, then the code is not included in the final export.

2 Likes

In the midst of this discussion it should be noted that including correct canonical data is a very good thing and definitely worth doing. I used to do this manually before on all of my sites by editing code in the page settings, however this is much more convenient, saving time while decreasing the chances of human error.

Knowing this option takes information from the site url I add it by default now, however this tweak should ensure the practice is not overlooked in error.

Thank you to all the participants.
And thanks to Norm for always a simple solution.
∈(^@^)∋