Standard URLs: a MacroFormat?

Sat Jun 30

There’s a really interesting article at ReadWriteWeb proposing a standard URL format to enable simpler searches. It’s a good idea, but as they say it will take a huge effort to make this happen.

Would it make things easier for searchers? I’m not sure. After all, search engines have been designed to find information with little regard to the actual URL it appears at (but it can have an effect on how well that page is ranked).

It seems to me that power-users, those that understand what the URL is and how it denotes a hierarchy of information, may be the only ones to benefit from this - certainly in the short to medium term. That’s no reason to not do it, though, and I’ve tried to do something like this in recent projects I’ve worked on.

Will it happen? There’s no reason why not (I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’d have mod_rewrite’s babies if I could), but it will take a lot of work to educate people regarding the technologies and tools that can make this happen - and the reasons why it’s a good idea. In some ways it’s like the campaign for web standards: we have to be realistic and acknowledge that it’s still a minority movement despite there being clear reasons for using them.

So, for me, I’ll bear this in mind whenever I do a site (I love clean URLs anyway) but maybe we need Dan or Tantek to start MacroFormats.

All the ducks are swimming in the water

Fri Jun 29

If you think that statement is strange, just wait until you see the video that accompanies it: YouTube - lemon jelly - nice weather for the ducks.

Thanks to Dalaq for the link.

Flickrising the world

Thu Jun 28

I’ve succumbed and created an account with Flickr, the amazingly popular image management website. While I have a gallery of images here on this very site, it’s not that easy to add pictures to. No batch tagging, no handy uploader tool to drag and drop photos in. Whereas FLickr makes uploading, tagging, renaming, commenting and organising photos a breeze. I’ll still keep the gallery here, but it will be for just a few select photos I think.

So take a look at my photos. My favourite so far is this fantastic sunset.

An ode to the Web Three: HTML, CSS and JavaScript

Wed Jun 27

I have to say I completely agree with David when he says he likes HTML, CSS and JavaScript. I do too.

The web has matured enough so that with the tools and technologies currently available, even with all the constraints, developers the world over are creating some fantastic solutions that just wouldn’t be possible any other way. It’s a pity we as web developers are generally looked down on as lesser beings than desktop developers, although I’m not sure why that would be. Maybe it’s jealousy. I have noticed that desktop application developers tend to focus on the technology and the intricacies of solutions, rather than just getting things done.

The constraints of HTML, CSS and JavaScript are not there to suppress innovation and hinder development, rather they foster an attitude of creativity to work with the constraints to product something great. After all, every great painting that has ever been painted has been built from the creative mix of a handful of primary colours. It seems that having three contrasting but complementary elements is a Good Thing.

Why do birds suddenly appear

Tue Jun 26

Get SongbirdIt’s nice to see one of my new favourite pieces of software getting a bit of attention as it really is a fine tool. Part web browser, part media player, it helps me keep up to date with the massive amount of music available - legally! - for free online.

And when you can do this to an application, you know the developers care. Mmmm, tasty skinning.