Andrew C. Oliver
2002-12-18 15:34:24 UTC
While I don't think my opinion should count for much on this. I am in
the URL control crowd.
Take a look at what Cocoon does with its sitemap (xml.apache.org/cocoon).
URLs are pretty important in some companies and Can be a powerful tool
for usability.
-Andy
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the URL control crowd.
Take a look at what Cocoon does with its sitemap (xml.apache.org/cocoon).
URLs are pretty important in some companies and Can be a powerful tool
for usability.
-Andy
i'm reposting this, as it never made it to the list :)
-------------------------------------------------------hi,
i don't know if i count as a "user" but i do like short urls, that tell
about the structure of a site's information. i like it when i can easily
navigate around if i get a 404 (ok, linkrot is bad too, but it's a fact
of life). or jump straight to something i know is there, but have not
bookmarked it (eg. i can jump to the javadoc of java.lang.String without
having it bookmarked, or even bringing up the page)...
as a site-builder, i like nice urls that i can send out in an email
without it breaking (less than 80 chars) on certain mail readers... or
print on a piece of paper and a user can type it in... simple urls make
log analysis easier too.
call me weird, but other's share my opinion - here's a couple of links
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990321.html
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/us-cranky8.html?dwzone=web
http://www.bohmann.dk/articles/making_urls_predictable.html
i think ugly urls are against the spirit of the original concept - use
them if you have no other option...
http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI.html
or take your mailing address for example - yeah, it could be
98052, USA" still looks better to me :)
viktor
--
http://fastmail.fm - The professional email service
i don't know if i count as a "user" but i do like short urls, that tell
about the structure of a site's information. i like it when i can easily
navigate around if i get a 404 (ok, linkrot is bad too, but it's a fact
of life). or jump straight to something i know is there, but have not
bookmarked it (eg. i can jump to the javadoc of java.lang.String without
having it bookmarked, or even bringing up the page)...
as a site-builder, i like nice urls that i can send out in an email
without it breaking (less than 80 chars) on certain mail readers... or
print on a piece of paper and a user can type it in... simple urls make
log analysis easier too.
call me weird, but other's share my opinion - here's a couple of links
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990321.html
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/us-cranky8.html?dwzone=web
http://www.bohmann.dk/articles/making_urls_predictable.html
i think ugly urls are against the spirit of the original concept - use
them if you have no other option...
http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI.html
or take your mailing address for example - yeah, it could be
98052, USA" still looks better to me :)
viktor
I double-dog dare you to find me a user (I mean an end user, not a client
who
think s/he knows "what user's want") ... find me a user that actually
cares
about the URLs.
They might care if they can't bookmark a URL and come back later. They
might
care if the URL is broken. But I double-dog dare you to find me a user
that
cares about the difference between "/products/food/fruit/apple" and
"/app?
service=catalog&sp=food&sp=fruit&sp=apple". We're not
talking
telegrams here; nobody's paying by the letter (well, maybe on WAP).
The only difference is that users of the Tapestry app will be less
inclined to
second guess the URL construction by manually hacking the URL, and
therefore
less likely to be frustrated when it doesn't work.
Also, the fact that users are trying to second guess and circumvent your
application means that your app has a usuability problem ... and it isn't
the
format of your URLs.
You Are Not Your Users.
--who
think s/he knows "what user's want") ... find me a user that actually
cares
about the URLs.
They might care if they can't bookmark a URL and come back later. They
might
care if the URL is broken. But I double-dog dare you to find me a user
that
cares about the difference between "/products/food/fruit/apple" and
"/app?
service=catalog&sp=food&sp=fruit&sp=apple". We're not
talking
telegrams here; nobody's paying by the letter (well, maybe on WAP).
The only difference is that users of the Tapestry app will be less
inclined to
second guess the URL construction by manually hacking the URL, and
therefore
less likely to be frustrated when it doesn't work.
Also, the fact that users are trying to second guess and circumvent your
application means that your app has a usuability problem ... and it isn't
the
format of your URLs.
You Are Not Your Users.
--
http://fastmail.fm - The professional email service
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