We’ve already said that we plan to question the status quo, but we want to make that point even stronger; we plan to advocate for positive change.
At least one person has already suggested that our activities would be best accepted if we, like the microformat initiative aimed to merely “uncover what already works” on the web and then dispassionately documented it for discussion. Although we do plan to research and then explain current patterns and best practices we don’t plan to make those our only activities; we didn’t pursue this merely to be the scribes of current behavior.
Instead, we are promoting this initiative because we envision specific solutions to current URL usage problems, and we believe those solutions will significantly improve both the web’s accessibility and user’s experience with the web. It is this vision that motivates us to pursue this path even if it means that at times it might be an uphill battle.
But what specifically do we plan to advocate? To give you an idea I prepared the following chart, organized by who will be the target of our advocacy:
| To Whom? |
Plans for Advocacy |
| End Users |
|
Web Developers,
SEO Consultants,
Web Designers |
|
| All Internet Professionals |
- Educate users on URL concepts
- Promote User-Centered URL Design
- Recommend URL Virtualization technologies
- Promote strategies for avoiding and resolving Broken URLs a.k.a Link Rot
- Advocate use of new URL-related Metadata in web pages
- Always using Resolvable URIs a.k.a. URLs whenever URIs are needed
- Utilize Web Request Containers where applicable
- Recommned URL Interfaces for Sitempas, URL Rewriting and REST Service Discovery
- Think in terms of providing everything a Permalink URL
- Envision the URL as the Universal Identifier
- Follow all REST Principles where appropriate
|
| Website Owners |
- Expose users to URLs directly and indirectly
- Adopt User-Centered URLs
- Deprecate use of non-user friendly URLs
- Use URL Virtualization technologies
- Incorporate Web Request Containers into your website
- Ensure your web pages incorporate new URL-related Metadata
- Adopt strategies for avoiding and resolving Broken URLs a.k.a Link Rot
- Make all HTML elements with ids addressable using URL Fragments
- Deploy URL Interfaces for Sitemaps, URL Rewriting, and REST Service Discovery
- Design your URLs to be Universal Identifiers
- Ensure all Indivisible Content is an Addressable Resource
- Provide Permalink URLs for all resources
- Expose information and do so via RESTful interfaces
|
Web-app Software Providers,
Framework Developers,
Infrastructure Developers |
- Adopt URI Templates for URL configuration
- Promote User-Centered URL Design
- Deprecate use of non-user friendly URLs
- Develop URL Virtualization technologies
- Leverage new URL-related Metadata
- Implement URLs as Universal Identifiers
- Adopt strategies for avoiding and resolving Broken URLs a.k.a. Link Rot
- Incorporate Web Request Containers into your software
- Ensure all URIs used are Resolvable URIs a.k.a URLs
- Leverage URL Interfaces for URL Rewriting and REST Service Discovery
- Make Permalink URLs for every indivisible content element
- Provide technology for simplifying RESTful development
|
| Hosting Providers |
- Promote User-Centered URL Design to Customers
- Provide URL Rewriting functionality on all the platforms offered
- Use URL Interfaces for URL Virtualization and offer URL Virtualization services
- Offer services for RESTful hosting
|
| Web Browsers |
- Expose users to URLs directly and indirectly
- Support URI Templates where applicable
- Expose all content ids as addressable via URL fragments
- Think of URLs as Universal Identifiers, implement accordingly
- Incorporate technologies for resolving Broken URLs a.k.a. Link Rot
- Expose new URL-related Metadata via “View Source“-like features
- Implement usable interfaces for Web Request Containers
- Provide support for URL Interfaces
- Present user interfaces for calling RESTful services
- Provide a “View Source” for User-Centered RESTful Services Discovery
|
| Standards Participants |
- Promote User-Centered URL Design
- Incorporate URI Templates into Standards
- Advocate use of URL Virtualization
- Accept and standardize Web Request Containers
- Promote strategies for resolving Broken URLs a.k.a. Link Rot
- Accept and standardize new URL-related Metadata
- Promote URLs as Universal Identifiers,
- Specify all URIs should be Resolvable URIs a.k.a URLs
- Recommend URL Interfaces as the solution for Sitemaps
|
| Leading Companies |
- Set a good example regarding User-Centered URL Design
- Promote User-Centered URL Design
- Deprecate use of non-user friendly URLs
- Adopt strategies for resolving broken URLs
- Publish URL-related Metadata about your pages
- Consider your URLs to be Universal Identifiers
- Incorporate use of Web Request Containers, where applicable
- Make all HTML elements with ids addressable using URL Fragments
- Expose and Document URL Structure, where applicable
- Publish URL Interfaces for REST Service Discovery and Sitemaps
- Make Permalink URLs for every indivisible content element
- Expose information and do so via RESTful interfaces
|
Conference Promoters,
Educators |
- Promote User-Centered URL Design
- Incorporate User-Centered URL Design into curriculum
- Teach the concept of URLs as Universal Identifier
- Provide education on User-Centered URL implementation
- Teach URL Virtualization concepts and URL Rewriting
- Educate about Broken URL a.k.a. Link Rot resolution strategies
- Advocate use of new URL-related Metadata and URL Interfaces
- Educate on the use of Web Request Containers
- Teach people the concept and use of Permalink URLs
- Advocate teaching as part of Web Science
- Teach URL Design as a critical component of Web Design
- Promote implementation of properly RESTful interfaces
|
| Content Publishers |
- Publish on all User-Centered URL Design and related topics
- Promote the use of properly RESTful services
|
Although this list of objectives is significant, it doesn’t represent the entirety of what we hope to accomplish via this initiative. Stay tuned.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, December 26th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Introduction, Everyone.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.