My XTech 2007 Conference Proposal
Since I spent the entire past day and well into the night working on my proposal for speaking at the XTech 2007: ‘The Ubiquitous Web’ conference, I wasn’t able to complete my promised Friday installment of the introduction. Rather than go dark on you, I decided to publish my proposal here for all to see. Let’s hope they select it!
The Ubiquitous URI: URL Design and Why it Matters
by Mike Schinkel
When Tim Berners-Lee created the web, he developed three fundamental technologies: HTML, HTTP, and the URI. To date, most people have viewed the URI as just plumbing, not to be seen by mere mortals. In this talk I aim to present the history of why, the tremendous benefits to be had from a changed view, and how attendees’ skills combined with their future actions can create incredible new value.
This talk will be given presentation style reminiscent of Lawrence Lessig; lots of slides covered quickly for 30 minutes, and then 10 minutes for questions . It intends to create awareness, not complete comprehension of all aspects covered. Resources for future research and understanding will be given as well as a call to action for participation at the end.
Attendee Benefits
The value of this session to attendees will be:
- Appreciation of all that URLs involve and affect
- Understand the history and technology of URIs, URLs, and URNs
- Appreciate the real world relevance of URL design
- Knowledge of Patterns and Best Practices
- Learn newer and rarely known use-cases for URLs
- A peek into the future of the URL
- Participate in the future of URL technology, if desired
Outline of Presentation
- Intro – 3 minutes
- URL Design: Why Should you Care?
- URIs: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
- The URI vs. the URL vs. the URN
- URLs are Everywhere: Make them Usable
- Past – 5 minutes
- The Three Pillars of the Web: HTML, HTTP, and URI
- It’s all Politics (and a little bit of technology)
- The Sorry State of Affairs: Who can we blame? :-)
- Present – 9 minutes
- URL Design: Who is your Constituent?
- Technical Concerns are Secondary: URL Design’s Many Considerations
- Attributes of a Well Designed URL
- Resolution Matters: Why a “200 OK” is Essential
- The URI Opacity Axiom: Separating Dogma from Fact
- Achieving RESTfulness: URL Design’s Significance to REST
- Mashups made Easier: RESTful URL Design
- The Semantic Web: Dead without URL Design
- Content Management Systems Considered Harmful: Well, not all the them
- Untold Damaged Caused by Flash and AJAX: Resolving their Trespasses
- Running afoul of the Law: Legal Issues with URLs
- Principle of Minimum Constraints: Is this Contradictory?
- Down and Dirty: Patterns and Practices
- Case Study
- Future – 10 minutes
- A subset of Web Science
- Web 2.0 Success requires URL Design: Why?
- Regular Expressions Too Hard: URI Templates
- Everything important needs a URI: Defining What’s Important
- But Mother will never understand: Stop Treating Users Like Children
- Permalinks: The Hidden Champion
- Fragments are your Friend: Expose them!
- URLs and Metadata: Leveraging HTML and HTTP
- Extending the URL: Web Requests
- “But My App Server Can’t Do that!”: Breaking free of Platform Constraints
- Envisioning a future where all URLs resolve: Solving Link Rot
- The Future GUID: URL as Primary Key
- Summary – 3 minutes
- Review of Key Points
- Resources and additional references provided
- Call to Action: The World is your Oyster, Help Make a Pearl
- Q&A – 10 minutes
- Open the floor for questions
Session Outcome
At the end of session attendees should be able to:
- Understand the basic aspects of URL design
- Apply basic patterns and best practices
- Seek community help for more complex URL design
- Leverage URLs in ways they probably never considered
- Join with others to extend URL technology
Prerequisites
Basic understanding of
- HTTP protocol
- HTML authoring
- DNS and domains
- Current events related to the web
P.S. I submitted three other proposals, but you’ll have to wait to see if they accept any of them before I can tell you about them. :)