[wp-hackers] Canonical integration into core

[Daniel Torreblanca]

> The AllinOneSEO plugin is not downloaded as much as WordPress is. Not
> everyone uses it or even likes it.
> Auto-generated RSS links in the header would simply force those who don't
> use the WP feed links to have to write filters to get rid of it.
> The sitemap plugin, while great, is not used by everyone and some sites use
> their own code for this.
>
> As to the canonical meta tag - anyone who has ever used Google's webmaster
> tools has had the ability to specify the canonical URL for a long time. If
> this became part of the core, again filters would have to be written where
> the canonical URL is not the same as the permalink. Good URI's don't change
> and for sites that have been around a long time or which have been imported
> into WP from another app, the canonical URL can indeed be different to the
> permalink WP generates.
>
> Lynne

Read http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/02/specify-your-canonical.html
so you know what we're talking about ;)  I've been using Google
Webmaster Tools for a long time and there's never been anything that
lets you publicly specify a canonical URL for any given page.

Anyway, what's the point (and yours specifically, Lynne)? I'm getting
so tired of these "omg put this/don't put this in core" arguments -
they'd be much more valid if the core was some sort of blessed,
pristine haven from anything not absolutely 100% essential to
"blogging" (or whatever WP's goal is now). But like someone said
earlier in this thread, if stuff like support for MS's Live Writer is
implemented in core, then anyone arguing based on "we can't cause
bloat/not enough people will use it" is basically blowing hot air (and
some people do that all the time regardless). I didn't even know there
was such a thing as Live Writer or whatever it's called until I read
an article on how to DISABLE support for it in WP. Not one single
person that I've ever asked about it has said that they use it or even
know what it is.

So, while I believe support for this new canonical URL tag SHOULD be
included in core, Joost has already done it in a plugin. Anyone who
knows what they're doing would find this functionality whether it was
in core or in a plugin, and for the vast majority of people it will
make no difference whatsoever.