Make facets start with a prefix

[alexgarel]

Problem

It's currently very difficult to tell if a url is a "facet" search.

Proposed solution

1. Prefix facets uri with a "f/".

   • /categories -- becomes -> f/categories
   • /category/speculaas -- becomes -> f/category/speculaas

2. Make old facets redirect uri to the new uris (permanent redirect)

I think the redirection can be done by apache (it is as fast as checking if first uri part is a taxonomy name), because generating all urls for nginx might be a bit cumbersome.

Additional context

This can help with:

• adding rate limiting on facet on nginx side
• better handling of priorities

Generally it's a good thing to be able to easily tell what kind of content a URL is.

[stephanegigandet]

If we change URLs, then maybe it would be good to think a bit more about what URLs we want.

Adding a prefix for facets is a good idea. Another one that we floated around was to get rid of the translation of facet type.

e.g. instead of having https://fr.openfoodfacts.org/categorie/bananes , we use /category/

In fact I think it would be even better to get rid of the plural / singular distinction.

Today:

/categories -> list of facets, that links to /category/bananas (or /categorie/bananes) in French.

I think it would make sense to always use the plural tag types:

/f/categories
/f/categories/bananas

and always with the English name for the tag type (but keeping the local name for the tag value I think).

e.g.

in French: /f/additives/e330-acide-citrique , (but not /f/additives/e330-citric-acid )

[alexgarel]

I agree with it @stephanegigandet.

Letting the translation of the facet name goes makes me a bit less enthusiast, but if it really cuts complexity, let's do it.

[stephanegigandet]

Well, it's a choice, we can decide which change we want:

1. adding /f (or /facets) to all facets
2. using the plural for a single facet : /categories/bananas
3. not translating the facet type
4. not translating the facet value

we could do 1. and 2. only. I don't think we should do 4. We may want to do 3. but it is not necessary.
2. is interesting because it makes URLs easier to edit manually ;)

we could also do this:

5. use /product/ in all languages, so that we don't have /produit/..

another choice to make: /f or /facets ? /p or /product ?

[alexgarel]

A minor question is: should /f alone redirect to the home page or list available facets.

I would prefer redirect to the home page for now, but it might help discoverablity to list available facets.

[stephanegigandet]

/f to return a list of facets is a good idea I think. It would make more sense to use /facets instead of /f.

[teolemon]

What about /c/bananas ? Also, one thing for multi-languages, and stability is usually adding a stable id

/c/bananas-id12345
/c/bananes-id12345
/c/new-principal-name-of-bananas-id12345

[alexgarel]

I don't understand you point @teolemon

It does not help identify facets if you don't put /f or /facets before.

For the id, what would it be ? We don't have such an id yet !

[stephanegigandet]

Personal preference: understandable and readable / editable / guessable urls. :)

So avoid abbreviations, use /facets/categories/bananas instead of /f/c/bananas-4234

[aleene]

I do not see it as an issue. Either the user has to learn to type facets+categories or just categories. In all cases you need to explain it.

[teolemon]

My main point is stable ids in urls, in addition to text.