The argument is about whether they mean anything to _people_, though, as part of the user interface. URLs are hugely meaningful to software, and the ability to

The argument is about whether they mean anything to _people_, though, as part of the user interface. URLs are hugely meaningful to software, and the ability to share them is critical, but that's independent of whether they are shown at the top of the window. Semantic URLs are helpful, but they're an awkward tool for changing the interface as you describe it. If a web application is relying _at all_ on people moving URL path elements around to access the content they want, it has already lost. I think URLs are fundamental to the web, but not fundamental to the user interface, which is an important distinction - I don't mind at all that in my native mobile and desktop application, there is no unique view identifier displayed at the top of the application window for every view available, and I think a mature web can equally hide, but not eliminate, that identifier.