Change Magento's contacts page url

Magento does not provide a proper built in way to change the url of the default contacts page. Some recommend creating a redirect in "Catalog" >> "URL Rewrite Management", but I find it unnecessary and counterproductive. In my Magento development workflow I strive to avoid any non-code changes and settings when creating the e-shop (and yes - it is possible).

Changing the url of Magento's contacts page can be as easy as creating 2 files.

/app/etc/Zzz_ContactsPageUrl.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <Zzz_ContactsPageUrl>
            <active>true</active>
            <codePool>local</codePool>
        </Zzz_ContactsPageUrl>
    </modules>
</config>

and /app/code/local/Zzz/ContactsPageUrl/etc/config.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
    <frontend>
        <routers>
            <contacts>
                <args>
                    <frontName>contact-us.html</frontName>
                </args>
            </contacts>
        </routers>
    </frontend>
</config>

The vital part here is the "vendor name", Zzz. Since Magento loads the modules alphabetically, modules from the Zzz vendor will be loaded last. This allows them to overwrite any previously defined settings.

Although this might be considered a dirty hack by some, I believe it to be the most elegant solution since it does not create extra database overhead and can be easily stored in the VCS.

All source codes from this article are available for download on Github.