Comments on: The importance of a semantic URL http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/ Web development and Internet trends Mon, 08 Sep 2008 07:30:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Stevie D http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-188176 Stevie D Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:23:09 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-188176 <blockquote cite="http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-148565">I don’t think that people even look at URLs anymore. It’s information that is only for the computer. So it is not so important to be semantic.</blockquote> What I find useful/frustrating is going back to a website that I visit from time to time - if the site has human-friendly URLs and I've been to the page before, I can pick it out of the auto-completing list - but if it's got random IDs, I have to go to the homepage and navigate through the site, which is annoying.

I don’t think that people even look at URLs anymore. It’s information that is only for the computer. So it is not so important to be semantic.

What I find useful/frustrating is going back to a website that I visit from time to time - if the site has human-friendly URLs and I’ve been to the page before, I can pick it out of the auto-completing list - but if it’s got random IDs, I have to go to the homepage and navigate through the site, which is annoying.

]]> By: Robert Nyman http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-150198 Robert Nyman Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:13:14 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-150198 Except that it's a bad thing assuming how every person in the world, search engines do very much look at URL:s, so it is very important that they're semantic. Except that it’s a bad thing assuming how every person in the world, search engines do very much look at URL:s, so it is very important that they’re semantic.

]]> By: What is a URL?people http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-148565 What is a URL?people Fri, 23 Nov 2007 23:57:35 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-148565 I don't think that people even look at URLs anymore. It's information that is only for the computer. So it is not so important to be semantic. I don’t think that people even look at URLs anymore. It’s information that is only for the computer. So it is not so important to be semantic.

]]> By: apsquared.net » Blog Archive » Cleaning up your sites URLs with the URL Rewrite Filter http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-45872 apsquared.net » Blog Archive » Cleaning up your sites URLs with the URL Rewrite Filter Sat, 31 Mar 2007 19:37:22 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-45872 [...] the GoogleBot crawling our site just fine, so we ignored it.  After reading articles like “The Importance of a Semantic URL” we’ve decided to start the process of cleaning up our sites URLs.  Instead of using [...] [...] the GoogleBot crawling our site just fine, so we ignored it.  After reading articles like “The Importance of a Semantic URL” we’ve decided to start the process of cleaning up our sites URLs.  Instead of using [...]

]]> By: Douglas Clifton http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-45482 Douglas Clifton Fri, 30 Mar 2007 10:22:31 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-45482 An alternative to using mod_rewrite: Say you're coding in PHP, first use ForceType on a script with no extension, usually in a Directory context in your .conf file (I personally loath .htacces files for performance reasons) so mod_php picks it up. Next, parse everything to the right of the script, like so: $args = explode('/',trim($_SERVER['PATH_INFO'],'/')); Say products is your script and the URL looks like: products/handtools/screwdrivers/phillips The $args array will contain: $args[0] = handtools $args[1] = screwdrivers $args[2] = phillips Then you can build an SQL query (or whatever) to fetch the matching products. Incidentally, the trim() in the parse line is there to remove any leading or trailing slashes, otherwise you'll end up with empty array items in your list. An alternative to using mod_rewrite: Say you’re coding in PHP, first use ForceType on a script with no extension, usually in a Directory context in your .conf file (I personally loath .htacces files for performance reasons) so mod_php picks it up. Next, parse everything to the right of the script, like so:

$args = explode(’/',trim($_SERVER['PATH_INFO'],’/'));

Say products is your script and the URL looks like:

products/handtools/screwdrivers/phillips

The $args array will contain:

$args[0] = handtools
$args[1] = screwdrivers
$args[2] = phillips

Then you can build an SQL query (or whatever) to fetch the matching products.

Incidentally, the trim() in the parse line is there to remove any leading or trailing slashes, otherwise you’ll end up with empty array items in your list.

]]> By: Robert Nyman http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-44580 Robert Nyman Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:57:39 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-44580 William, I guess the road to go is definining some major keywords, and also misspellings, to re-direct them to a helpful page. Nate, My personal take is that a hyphen (-) is the best way to replace spaces. Without a separator, as you say, long names are bound to become illegible. William,

I guess the road to go is definining some major keywords, and also misspellings, to re-direct them to a helpful page.

Nate,

My personal take is that a hyphen (-) is the best way to replace spaces. Without a separator, as you say, long names are bound to become illegible.

]]> By: Nate Baxley http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-44577 Nate Baxley Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:49:16 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-44577 We recently created a wiki like application for posting articles and used the title of the post as the URL. It works technically, but get's a but strange when you have long titles. Another issue we've struggled with is spaces. Do we leave the spaces in the title, or should we replace them with _ or something? I can't give out the URL as it's not released yet, but I'd love to hear any thoughts you have. We recently created a wiki like application for posting articles and used the title of the post as the URL. It works technically, but get’s a but strange when you have long titles. Another issue we’ve struggled with is spaces. Do we leave the spaces in the title, or should we replace them with _ or something? I can’t give out the URL as it’s not released yet, but I’d love to hear any thoughts you have.

]]> By: William http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-44214 William Sat, 24 Mar 2007 14:26:49 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-44214 Going back to Stijn remark on wikipedia following this rule, what I love about wikipedia is if you type in: http://www.wikipedia.org/urls it will ask you do you mean http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/urls, how would one go about implementing this into their website? Going back to Stijn remark on wikipedia following this rule, what I love about wikipedia is if you type in: http://www.wikipedia.org/urls it will ask you do you mean http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/urls, how would one go about implementing this into their website?

]]> By: Why would anyone use Internet Explorer? - Robert’s talk http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43987 Why would anyone use Internet Explorer? - Robert’s talk Fri, 23 Mar 2007 09:01:30 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43987 [...] a little sidetrack (please forgive me for this), but with my post about semantic URLs the other day close in mind, compare the URLs for IE’s add-ons to the Firefox and Opera [...] [...] a little sidetrack (please forgive me for this), but with my post about semantic URLs the other day close in mind, compare the URLs for IE’s add-ons to the Firefox and Opera [...]

]]> By: links for 2007-03-23 - mattherzberger.com http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43985 links for 2007-03-23 - mattherzberger.com Fri, 23 Mar 2007 08:27:20 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43985 [...] The importance of a semantic URL - Robert’s talk (tags: usability url SEO semantic friendlyurl) [...] [...] The importance of a semantic URL - Robert’s talk (tags: usability URL SEO semantic friendlyurl) [...]

]]> By: Robert Nyman http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43857 Robert Nyman Thu, 22 Mar 2007 12:54:56 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43857 Mountain/\Ash, Absolutely! :-) Mountain/\Ash,

Absolutely! :-)

]]> By: Mountain/\Ash http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43850 Mountain/\Ash Thu, 22 Mar 2007 11:13:43 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43850 Another great reason for using "plain english" URL's is when you speak a domain. I've worked with large companies that have large call centres. Try speaking a "bad" domain. It's even worse when people have trouble "I'll put down the phone as I need two hands to do a question mark" *phone back to ear* some more words, *phoe down* two hands for an equals sign, then an ampersand "what's that?". Bahhh. You've just wasted 10 minutes on the phone to convey a URL. Up goes the call queues, need more staff, costs more money. All on something basic that a free websever can do out of the box. I guess if your using IIS then you can afford to waste peoples time with a complex URL. Another great reason for using “plain english” URL’s is when you speak a domain. I’ve worked with large companies that have large call centres. Try speaking a “bad” domain. It’s even worse when people have trouble “I’ll put down the phone as I need two hands to do a question mark” *phone back to ear* some more words, *phoe down* two hands for an equals sign, then an ampersand “what’s that?”. Bahhh. You’ve just wasted 10 minutes on the phone to convey a URL. Up goes the call queues, need more staff, costs more money. All on something basic that a free websever can do out of the box.

I guess if your using IIS then you can afford to waste peoples time with a complex URL.

]]> By: Robert Nyman http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43707 Robert Nyman Wed, 21 Mar 2007 09:34:08 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43707 Joakim, Absolutely, good point! Joakim,

Absolutely, good point!

]]> By: Joakim http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43698 Joakim Wed, 21 Mar 2007 08:23:51 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43698 Another thing to have in your mind if you have a lot of languages at your site and don´t use different domains for each language. Don´t use just cookie based (or parameter based urls) pages for multi languages sites, each language need to have a unique url. For example (bad): www.example.com/products/?lang=en www.example.com/products/?lang=sv Instead you can do like this: www.example.com/en/products/ www.example.com/sv/products/ A little SEO tip ;) Another thing to have in your mind if you have a lot of languages at your site and don´t use different domains for each language. Don´t use just cookie based (or parameter based urls) pages for multi languages sites, each language need to have a unique URL.

For example (bad):
http://www.example.com/products/?lang=en
http://www.example.com/products/?lang=sv

Instead you can do like this:
http://www.example.com/en/products/
http://www.example.com/sv/products/

A little SEO tip ;)

]]> By: Robert Nyman http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43554 Robert Nyman Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:18:13 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43554 Pär, Thanks! The term semantic has a far broader term than in just web developing. It is about conveying meaning. Please read more in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantics" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia's Semantics</a>. Pär,

Thanks!
The term semantic has a far broader term than in just web developing. It is about conveying meaning. Please read more in Wikipedia’s Semantics.

]]> By: Pär Axelsson http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43523 Pär Axelsson Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:12:49 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43523 Hi, Great article and great links in the comments. But why is it calld semantic url? For me... ...for me, semantic is not for urls, for me semantic is the relation signs or elements has to an object. Say web sematics, p for paragraphs or h for headers. Urls? its just like stating this clause is semantic; "Im a citizen in world, europe, sweden." Am I all wrong here? Thats why i suggest we skip using the term "semantic url" and instead use: "usable url", "simple url", "friendly url" or maybe "proper url" Or?... Hi, Great article and great links in the comments. But why is it calld semantic URL? For me…
…for me, semantic is not for urls, for me semantic is the relation signs or elements has to an object.
Say web sematics, p for paragraphs or h for headers.

Urls? its just like stating this clause is semantic; “IM a citizen in world, europe, sweden.”

Am I all wrong here?

Thats why i suggest we skip using the term “semantic URL” and instead use: “usable URL”, “simple URL”, “friendly URL” or maybe “proper URL”

Or?…

]]> By: Robert Nyman http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43513 Robert Nyman Tue, 20 Mar 2007 07:46:22 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43513 Jason, Andreas, Personally, I'm no expert in apache_mod_rewrite, but I hope the articles linked to in the blog or the comments can help you out, and show options. Mike, Thanks for clarifying that! Jermayn, No, no, that's good input. I think it makes sense for a blog (just as Kiper says), to immediately being able to see how old the post is. What's good about it, too, is that you can for instance take away the name of the post to get a listing of all posts that day, remove 16 to get all posts in March etc. Jason, Andreas,

Personally, I’m no expert in apache_mod_rewrite, but I hope the articles linked to in the blog or the comments can help you out, and show options.

Mike,

Thanks for clarifying that!

Jermayn,

No, no, that’s good input. I think it makes sense for a blog (just as Kiper says), to immediately being able to see how old the post is. What’s good about it, too, is that you can for instance take away the name of the post to get a listing of all posts that day, remove 16 to get all posts in March etc.

]]> By: Kiper http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43501 Kiper Tue, 20 Mar 2007 06:19:26 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43501 But the date is semantic in a way. If you want to see which post is the most recent, then it is the best way. You get both a date stamp and the heading of the article. Not too bad, or? I've skipped day on my blog but still use year and month. But the date is semantic in a way. If you want to see which post is the most recent, then it is the best way. You get both a date stamp and the heading of the article. Not too bad, or?
I’ve skipped day on my blog but still use year and month.

]]> By: Jermayn Parker http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43483 Jermayn Parker Tue, 20 Mar 2007 04:02:22 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43483 I totally agree with what you wrote. A question though in looking at your own link for this article. <code>http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/ </code> is this semantic URL?? I do not want to seem like a wise bum but it would almost seem simpler to have it without the date... btw just for the record I have the set up with the date with my blog ;P I totally agree with what you wrote. A question though in looking at your own link for this article. http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-URL/ is this semantic URL?? I do not want to seem like a wise bum but it would almost seem simpler to have it without the date…

BTW just for the record I have the set up with the date with my blog ;P

]]> By: Mike Linksvayer http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43449 Mike Linksvayer Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:58:16 +0000 http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/03/16/the-importance-of-a-semantic-url/#comment-43449 Mateusz and Robert, RDFa is not (yet) a W3C recommendation, but is completely orthogonal to this discussion in any case. Pretty URIs are nice, so is the ability to embed data in web pages; choose one, or both. Mateusz and Robert,

RDFa is not (yet) a W3C recommendation, but is completely orthogonal to this discussion in any case.

Pretty URIs are nice, so is the ability to embed data in web pages; choose one, or both.

]]>