The Cult of Friendly URLs

Transcript

1. @andyhume
   UX Camp Brighton •
   1st October 2011
   FRIENDLY URLS
   THE CULT
   OF
   

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2. WHAT IS FRIENDLY?
   readable/clean
   reflect structure and hierarchy of data
   hackable
   shareable
   

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3. They help orient users in your
   architecture.
   [avoid] exposing the mechanism of how
   you run your server.
   “
   “
   Jesse James Garrett
   Tim Berners-Lee
   

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4. WHAT IS FRIENDLY?
   /cgibin/post.pl?id=13213
   /post?id=13213
   /posts/?year=2008&month=feb&day=23
   /posts/2008/feb/23/
   /post?id=13213
   /post/my-blog-post
   /posts/2008/feb/23/
   /posts/2008/jan/23/
   

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5. Clean URLs, RESTful URLs or user-
   friendly URLs are purely structural
   URLs that do not contain a query string
   “
   Wikipedia
   

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6. Clean URLs, RESTful URLs or user-
   friendly URLs are purely structural
   URLs that do not contain a query string
   “
   Wikipedia
   

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7. STILL FRIENDLY?
   /place/lat/50.81754/lon/-0.03124/category/banks/poi/cashpoint
   YOUR WEBSITE IS YOUR API
   

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8. REST... ANYONE?
   Um... Friendly URLs
   Er... Not SOAP
   Hm... Flickr API
   “
   

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9. ROY FIELDING
   Why is the web successful?
   

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10. UNIFORM INTERFACE
    GET POST DELETE
    RESOURCE ORIENTED
    /photos/12345
    DOING THINGS TO OBJECTS
    

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11. AN HTTP REQUEST
    GET /photos/12345
    Host: www.flickr.com
    GET /my-bucket/pdf/12345.pdf
    Host: aws.amazon.com
    

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12. QUERY STRINGS
    ...contain data to be passed to web applications.
    “
    Wikipedia
    the knobs of URLs
    “
    Kyle Neath, Github
    

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13. RESOURCE OR SEARCH?
    /UK/Sussex/Brighton/North+Laine
    THIS IS A SEARCH BASED ON A STRING
    /maps/?q=North+Laine, Brighton, Sussex, UK
    THIS IS A REQUEST FOR A DISTINCT RESOURCE
    

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14. WARNING SIGNS
    /typefaces/slabserif/clarendonbracketed/tags/rubbish
    INTERCHANGEBLE DIRECTORIES
    /nuts/salted/toasted/kosher
    /nuts/salted/kosher/toasted
    RETURNS EMPTY LIST NOT 404
    

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15. AMAZON
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sharp-LC40LE811E-40-inch-Freeview-
    Technology/dp/B003IC4F58/ref=sr_1_1?
    ie=UTF8&qid=1317461997&sr=8-1
    

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16. THE INDEPENDENT
    http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/kate-
    middleton-jelly-bean-expected-to-fetch-500-2269573.html
    http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/utter-PR-
    fiction-but-people-love-this-shit-so-fuck-it-lets-just-print-
    it-2269573.html
    

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17. TWITTER
    http://twitter.com/#!/andyhume
    

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18. FACETED SEARCH
    /cars?brand=ford&model=escort&year=1980
    FULL HIERARCHY
    /cars/ford/escort/1980
    FULL QUERY STRING
    /cars/ford/escort?year=1980
    RANDOM SEPARATOR
    /cars/ford,escort,1980
    HIERARCHY/QUERYSTRING HYBRID
    

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19. APPLICATION STATE
    /maps/Sussex/Brighton/North+Laine
    THIS IS APPLICATION STATE
    /maps?
    f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=clearleft&aq=&sll=50.819522,
    -0.13642&sspn=0.197161,0.313454&g=brighton&ie=UTF8&z=12&iwl
    THIS IS A RESOURCE
    

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20. WHAT’S THE POINT?
    ...of making application state data friendly/clean?
    ...of exposing application state to users?
    ...of address bars?
    BIG POINT GOES HERE
    

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21. WATCH OUT
    ...for people trying to ‘friendlyerise’ application state
    ...for people trying to ‘friendlyerise’ search queries
    BIG POINT GOES HERE
    

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