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This is all solid advice, but there's something that still bothers me about URLs: From one side I hear that hypertext should be the engine of application state

This is all solid advice, but there's something that still bothers me about URLs: From one side I hear that hypertext should be the engine of application state. This implies that the URL router should control just about everything, and that you should be able to click a link in an email and jump directly to any state of your application. From the other side I hear that web apps can be just as capable as desktop apps, and it's only a matter of time before we'll be using PhotoshopJS in a browser. What isn't said is that Photoshop has no concept of an "address bar", and it probably will never have one. As with so many things, the best practices for a blog or message board might be completely different from the best practices for a creative application. Could you design a URL format to represent the state of a Photoshop editing session? Would you even want to? Something's gotta give.

jdavis703 9y ago
If you're using non-destructive editing a URL might indeed be helpful for sharing the progress and evolution of a file with others. Something like photoshop.app/jdavis703/file/oceanview.psd/layer/colorcorrect might be really useful.
- guscost 9y ago
  That's a really interesting idea.
combatentropy 9y ago
Insisting that a URL change with state is taking it too far. It's not how I understood what Tim Berners-Lee and others were saying at the beginning. I would be interested, however, in articles that espouse this. If the URL represented state, then it should change as you're filling out an HTML form, at each keystroke. But instead there is one URL for the blank form and one after you click Submit. A better rule is one URL per "document" or "record." So in your Photoshop example, there would be a different URL per file that you edit (www.photoshop.com/image001.psd) but not per edit. Well, if the app saved versions, then you could append ?v=203. But in general I think it's enough to align URLs to "documents" (like a news story) or "records" (like a particular profile in a contact database).
- guscost 9y ago
  > Insisting that a URL change with state is taking it too far. It's not how I understood what Tim Berners-Lee and others were saying at the beginning. I would be interested, however, in articles that espouse this. I'm referring to HATEOAS, the final and most demanding "stage" of RESTful API design: http://timelessrepo.com/haters-gonna-hateoas http://timelessrepo.com/haters-gonna-hateoas > A better rule is one URL per "document" or "record." So in your Photoshop example, there would be a different URL per file that you edit (www.photoshop.com/image001.psd) but not per edit. Well, if the app saved versions, then you could append ?v=203. But in general I think it's enough to align URLs to "documents" (like a news story) or "records" (like a particular profile in a contact database). This sounds like a good idea.

jdavis703 9y ago

If you're using non-destructive editing a URL might indeed be helpful for sharing the progress and evolution of a file with others. Something like photoshop.app/jdavis703/file/oceanview.psd/layer/colorcorrect might be really useful.

guscost 9y ago
That's a really interesting idea.

combatentropy 9y ago

Insisting that a URL change with state is taking it too far. It's not how I understood what Tim Berners-Lee and others were saying at the beginning. I would be interested, however, in articles that espouse this. If the URL represented state, then it should change as you're filling out an HTML form, at each keystroke. But instead there is one URL for the blank form and one after you click Submit. A better rule is one URL per "document" or "record." So in your Photoshop example, there would be a different URL per file that you edit (www.photoshop.com/image001.psd) but not per edit. Well, if the app saved versions, then you could append ?v=203. But in general I think it's enough to align URLs to "documents" (like a news story) or "records" (like a particular profile in a contact database).

guscost 9y ago
> Insisting that a URL change with state is taking it too far. It's not how I understood what Tim Berners-Lee and others were saying at the beginning. I would be interested, however, in articles that espouse this. I'm referring to HATEOAS, the final and most demanding "stage" of RESTful API design: http://timelessrepo.com/haters-gonna-hateoas http://timelessrepo.com/haters-gonna-hateoas > A better rule is one URL per "document" or "record." So in your Photoshop example, there would be a different URL per file that you edit (www.photoshop.com/image001.psd) but not per edit. Well, if the app saved versions, then you could append ?v=203. But in general I think it's enough to align URLs to "documents" (like a news story) or "records" (like a particular profile in a contact database). This sounds like a good idea.