diff --git a/pelican/settings.py b/pelican/settings.py
index f49d3bd4..6845b830 100644
--- a/pelican/settings.py
+++ b/pelican/settings.py
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ DEFAULT_CONFIG = {
     'DRAFT_LANG_SAVE_AS': os.path.join('drafts', '{slug}-{lang}.html'),
     'PAGE_URL': 'pages/{slug}.html',
     'PAGE_SAVE_AS': os.path.join('pages', '{slug}.html'),
-    'PAGE_ORDER_BY': 'filename',
+    'PAGE_ORDER_BY': 'basename',
     'PAGE_LANG_URL': 'pages/{slug}-{lang}.html',
     'PAGE_LANG_SAVE_AS': os.path.join('pages', '{slug}-{lang}.html'),
     'STATIC_URL': '{path}',
diff --git a/pelican/utils.py b/pelican/utils.py
index 076c41ea..c2d6ca22 100644
--- a/pelican/utils.py
+++ b/pelican/utils.py
@@ -473,7 +473,12 @@ def process_translations(content_list, order_by=None):
         elif order_by == 'basename':
             index.sort(key=lambda x: os.path.basename(x.source_path or ''))
         elif order_by != 'slug':
-            index.sort(key=attrgetter(order_by))
+            try:
+                index.sort(key=attrgetter(order_by))
+            except AttributeError:
+                error_msg = ('There is no "{}" attribute in the item metadata.'
+                             'Defaulting to slug order.')
+                logger.warning(error_msg.format(order_by))
 
     return index, translations