URL Scheme

In this section, we will deal with the second setting in the "Details" table of the "Page" tab: that of the URL Scheme.

By default, the URL Scheme is set to "HTTP," signifying a non-secure web page. If you want your web page to be secure, whereupon all the data is encrypted during transmission, then select the other option in the drop-down menu: "Secure HTTP" (https). The protocol https tells the web server to send and receive all data for the web page using an encryption protocol.

Note: https will only work if an ssl certificate has been purchased and installed on the web server for your domain. Typically, the only pages on a website that should use https are ecommerce checkout pages, web forms with personal data, login pages, and any other web pages in which the content is sensitive. If you would like to buy an ssl certificate for your site, please follow this link.

If you select "Secure HTTP" (https), the system will automatically force the page to use https, even if you link to the page with a full URL using "http://."

You can ensure that a page has been made secure, as in the Document Tree on the left side of the screen, the page's normal icon will be replaced by a new icon depicting a small lock (as pictured below).

It is a common problem with websites that once you click on a secure page, all pages visited afterwards, even those intended to be non-secure, become secure. This is quite undesirable, as secure pages are considerably slower than their non-secure counterparts, due to the encryption process they must go through.

This system, however, has built in functionality to prevent this problem from occuring. As long as you always create your links and File URL's using just the page's file name (e.g. /contact-us/), leaving out the protocol and domain (the first, main portion of the web site's address), the system will automatically ensure that secure pages are secure and that non-secure pages, even when visited after secure pages, remain in a non-secure state.