For some web apps, namely ones that don't get linked to often like Twitter or ones that are truly trying to behave like desktop applications, hash-bang urls are

For some web apps, namely ones that don't get linked to often like Twitter or ones that are truly trying to behave like desktop applications, hash-bang urls are really the only option for maintaining state in browsers that don't support HTML5 push states yet. I think the backlash against Twitter's and Gawker's use of them is warranted, but not the hyperbole that hash-bangs, no matter the context, "break the web."