3 ms·

> the only time I care about URL's is when copy-pasting This is like saying the only time I care about electricity is when I need to power something. The fact

> the only time I care about URL's is when copy-pasting This is like saying the only time I care about electricity is when I need to power something. The fact that there's a universal textual way to refer to and link everything – like via copy and paste – is precisely why the web is so powerful.

Swizec 13y ago
More like "the only time I care about electricity is when taking a battery from one device and putting it in another". If there was a way to tell Chrome "Share this website on Skype to this person" or "Send this to this-or-that IRC channel" I would never care about the URL. The only reason I interact with it is because I want to share the page with someone specific (rather than using a spamming/sharing widget). But I never manipulate the URL directly, or care about its specific parts. Hell, if there was a keyboard shortcut for "put reference to current page on copypaste stack" I'd never click the URL at all.
- lelandbatey 13y ago
  I guess, but that seems far, far more ugly than the elegance of copy paste. Copy-paste doesn't require special implementation, or inter-app compatibility, or anything special or extra. Why are moving away from powerful and flexible systems that allow us to consume and produce? Why is the trend so constantly towards sealed, black-box, consumption exclusive habits? It makes me so sad to see.
  - jkrems 13y ago
    * Dev tools get better and better, giving you better insights into other peoples websites than ever before. One-click to make a minified JS file readable? Awesome! * Web apps get more complex, giving you the ability to work & create on the web, Google docs let you literally stop mid-sentence, switch the device and keep writing your essay on the go * Tumblr, wikipedia, twitter, - all relatively recent additions to the web and definitely not "consumption exclusive" I'm not sure where your "consumption exclusive" comes from. I'd call it just "inclusive". The web tries to be for everyone, and that includes people who couldn't care less about a 20 character hex id when they want to write up their great concept for developing rural areas in Rumania. Sure, you will always have more consumers than producers on the grand scale of things. But I'm failing to see any reason to see recent trends as anything close to what you describe.
- nkurz 13y ago
  if there was a keyboard shortcut for "put reference to current page on copypaste stack" I'd never click the URL at all C-l (lower case L) to select the URL and then C-c to copy is one way to do this on many systems without without clicking anything.
- kevinwang 13y ago
  Well, just to add a counter-opinion, I find myself often manipulating URLs directly, if only to truncate them.
- hussong 13y ago
  FWIW, commands like the ones you mentioned used to be possible with the ubiquity extension for firefox. Good times.
- forgottenpass 13y ago
  If there was a way to tell Chrome "Share this website on Skype to this person" or "Send this to this-or-that IRC channel" I would never care about the URL. Yes, android's intent system is neat. But after years of experience with it, it's sadly not a pancea.

Swizec 13y ago

More like "the only time I care about electricity is when taking a battery from one device and putting it in another". If there was a way to tell Chrome "Share this website on Skype to this person" or "Send this to this-or-that IRC channel" I would never care about the URL. The only reason I interact with it is because I want to share the page with someone specific (rather than using a spamming/sharing widget). But I never manipulate the URL directly, or care about its specific parts. Hell, if there was a keyboard shortcut for "put reference to current page on copypaste stack" I'd never click the URL at all.

lelandbatey 13y ago
I guess, but that seems far, far more ugly than the elegance of copy paste. Copy-paste doesn't require special implementation, or inter-app compatibility, or anything special or extra. Why are moving away from powerful and flexible systems that allow us to consume and produce? Why is the trend so constantly towards sealed, black-box, consumption exclusive habits? It makes me so sad to see.
- jkrems 13y ago
  * Dev tools get better and better, giving you better insights into other peoples websites than ever before. One-click to make a minified JS file readable? Awesome! * Web apps get more complex, giving you the ability to work & create on the web, Google docs let you literally stop mid-sentence, switch the device and keep writing your essay on the go * Tumblr, wikipedia, twitter, - all relatively recent additions to the web and definitely not "consumption exclusive" I'm not sure where your "consumption exclusive" comes from. I'd call it just "inclusive". The web tries to be for everyone, and that includes people who couldn't care less about a 20 character hex id when they want to write up their great concept for developing rural areas in Rumania. Sure, you will always have more consumers than producers on the grand scale of things. But I'm failing to see any reason to see recent trends as anything close to what you describe.
nkurz 13y ago
if there was a keyboard shortcut for "put reference to current page on copypaste stack" I'd never click the URL at all C-l (lower case L) to select the URL and then C-c to copy is one way to do this on many systems without without clicking anything.
kevinwang 13y ago
Well, just to add a counter-opinion, I find myself often manipulating URLs directly, if only to truncate them.
hussong 13y ago
FWIW, commands like the ones you mentioned used to be possible with the ubiquity extension for firefox. Good times.
forgottenpass 13y ago
If there was a way to tell Chrome "Share this website on Skype to this person" or "Send this to this-or-that IRC channel" I would never care about the URL. Yes, android's intent system is neat. But after years of experience with it, it's sadly not a pancea.