Make some url shoter

[Owdy]

I mean for example unread posts. Its /index.php?app=core&module=search&do=new_posts&search_filter_app[forums]=1
Thats ridiculous, seriously. :D Why not something like /index.php?unread_posts ?

Lets see how other BB softwares do that same thing.

SMF
index.php?action=unread

Vbulletin
search.php?searchid=97128

phpBB
search.php?search_id=newposts

Okay, now IPB again:
/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=new_posts&search_filter_app[forums]=1

See what i mean? :lol:

[Mark]

Because we use a proper OOP framework and controller handler rather than procedural files or large switch statements.

[Owdy]

I have no idea what that means. :)

[Michael]

Why exactly should it matter what the URL is for a search page, especially one that's just searching for new posts? The only time you really should ever be concerned about making fancy URLs is to give search engines a tiny improvement, and there's no need for a 'view new posts' search to have any SEO advantage of a friendly URL.

You should worry more about what shows up in the actual page rather that what's showing in the address bar of your browser.

[Owdy]

Okay, why we have services like Tinyurl or Bit.ly?

[Carl M]

To make links easier to share in published magazines - twitter use them because Of the 140 character limit etc

[Hunting insects...]

Okay, why we have services like Tinyurl or Bit.ly?

In order to hide spam links and virus/trojan infected sites.

Don't use them and don't let them be used on your site.

[Owdy]

You totally missed my point. But, whatever. Lets move on.

[Taylor J]

Why did you bring up bit.ly and tinyurl? They have nothing to do with what you originally posted.

[Hunting insects...]

You totally missed my point. But, whatever. Lets move on.

Not in the least. Simply pointing out that short URLs are not necessarily the good thing that you appear to believe they are... and going back to your original post, the length of that particular URL really does not matter one iota.

[Owdy]

Okay, i promise to kill myself for suggesting using shorter urls in forum functions. Lets make them even longer because it doesnt matter, right. Now, can we please move on.

[Owdy]

Why exactly should it matter what the URL is for a search page, especially one that's just searching for new posts?

Friendly URL

While IP.Chat really only has one URL, we've gone ahead and added FURL support for the IP.Chat page. This means instead of "site.com/index.php?app=ipchat" you can now access chat on your site at "site.com/chat". As search engines generally won't be supported by IP.Chat anyways, this change is more for the benefit of your users rather than for search engine optimization reasons.

Seems someone care about making urls more user friendly. That is EXACTLY same thing,
so:

This means instead of "site.com/index.php?app=ipchat" you can now access chat on your site at "site.com/chat".

could be:

" you can now access chat on your site at "site.com/unread".

[Michael]

The problem with your example of a shorter URL for the search page is that the current URL holds info than just the fact that it's an 'unread' search, it stores that you're looking for new content and that you want the forums tab highlighted. It may also store a specific search term you're searching for, an ID number for a member you want to view content for, a page number, etc. IP.Chat has one URL that it will only ever use, searching has a bunch of different potential ones. Fixing this thing for Chat was a minor code change done just because it was quick and easy to do, there is no comparison to doing that with search pages.

[MrFragicide]

Shorter URL's are very convenient for larger, and I mean fairly larger, forums because they reduce the amount of bandwidth used. Take for example those who leave out just the index.php and look like this

http://www.example.com/?topic=1234

compared to

http://www.example.com/index.php?topic=1234

They can save up to 20KB per pageview!

I'm not saying it's necessary, but it is very convenient, especially when getting upwards of 500,000 pageviews a day.

[Owdy]

The problem with your example of a shorter URL for the search page is that the current URL holds info than just the fact that it's an 'unread' search, it stores that you're looking for new content and that you want the forums tab highlighted. It may also store a specific search term you're searching for, an ID number for a member you want to view content for, a page number, etc. IP.Chat has one URL that it will only ever use, searching has a bunch of different potential ones. Fixing this thing for Chat was a minor code change done just because it was quick and easy to do, there is no comparison to doing that with search pages.

I just answered your question about "Why exactly should it matter". Because its user friendly make shorter urls, just like bfarber sayd in blog post.