On the Arc Platform, there are two types of content: historical content, and new content. Historical content already has a URL. New content is new, and therefore, at some point before publication, needs a URL to be generated (i.e., decided) for it.
The way URLs are generated is by using rules. For example, if the content matches certain criteria, then we will generate its URL using a predefined set of rules. For example, this could be:
- If the content is a
story(as opposed to agalleryorvideo) - The URL might be (spaces added for clarity):
/ YEAR / MONTH / DAY / ARTICLE_TITLE
Such rules are called formats. As described above, a format is:
- A set of conditions (which can be empty, like a “match all”)
- A pattern describing how the URL is generated from known information (metadata and fields)
- A priority, to ensure that more specific rules are applied first, and global rules last
Formats are specific to a particular website. If you operate in multi-site mode, you will need to define formats for each of your websites.