URL Design Principles: How Thoughtful URL Structure Enhances Web Application Usability and Shareability
By
thm
Fresh out the oven, still warm. Top of the tray.
Summary
The article explores the importance of thoughtful URL design in web applications, arguing that URLs should represent application state to enhance usability, shareability, and performance. It discusses what information belongs in URLs (like filters, sorting, pagination, and search queries) versus what should remain in local state, provides practical patterns for modern web apps, and warns against common pitfalls in URL design. The author uses personal experiences with PrismJS and other tools to illustrate how well-designed URLs can improve developer and user experiences.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledYour URL is your state. It's the single source of truth for what the user is looking at.
A well-designed URL should be shareable, bookmarkable, and understandable at a glance.
Put in the URL what you want to persist across sessions and what you want to be shareable. Keep in local state what's temporary or personal.
The most common mistake I see is putting too much state in the URL, making URLs long, ugly, and fragile.
Good URL design is about finding the right balance between persistence and performance, between shareability and simplicity.
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