3.3 How to go through Prestashop’s configuration checklist

If you go to your Prestashop back end for the first time you’ll probably see a Configuration checklist. This checklist has several items on them that need to be done to ensure the following:

• Safety;
• Search engine optimization;
• Performance.

If you open your Prestashop back end for the first time it will probably look similar to this (Remember I turned off my Smarty optimization in a previous article because we are still in development.):

To make sure there all green and checked you need to follow all the steps in this article.

How to set up Combine, Compress and Cache in Prestashop

1. Go to your back-end;
2. Go to the Preferences tab;
3. And go to Performance;
4. Set your CCC (Combine, Compress and Cache) as followed:

I find that these settings are optimal for my webshops you could always read about them in the Prestashop wiki. If you go back to the starting page of your back end you should now see that Combine, Compress & cache is green and checked.

How to set up URL rewriting and Browser cache and compression in Prestashop

URL rewriting is a typical search engine optimization tool. It makes your hard to read URL like: www.howtomakeawebshop.com/product.php?id_product=7 look like something that’s understandable for both users as well as search engines.

1. Go to your back-end;
2. Go to the Tools tab;
3. Go to Generators;
4. You will see the following:

It gives you the following warning: this tool can ONLY be used if you are hosted by an Apache web server. Please ask your hosting provider if you are not sure. Don’t have a hosting yet? Or do you have a hosting that doesn’t support this? Try HostingXs now!

1. Open Filezilla;
2. Connect to your host;
3. Go to the root folder;
4. Create a new empty notepad file and upload this to your root directory;
5. Rename the file to: “.htaccess” (Yes including the dot);
6. Right click on the .htaccess file and set file permissions to 777 (All ways change the permissions back for security reasons!).

If you did everything right it should look like this:

1. Go to your back-end;
2. Go to the Tools tab;
3. Go to Generators;
4. Check Optimization;
5. Check Friendly URL;
6. Click on Generate .htaccess file;

I find that these settings are optimal for my webshops you could always read about them in the Prestashop wiki. If you go back to the starting page of your back end you should now see that URL rewriting  and Browser cache and compression is green and checked.

If you are having any problems with this please leave a comment or email me.