k15

Permalinks at a glance

Site Genre: Pattern Group k

magnify imageFigure K15.1 A newspaper Web site adds dozens of new pages every day, and visitors frequently want to bookmark a Web page they find interesting and even share it with others. A properly formatted permalink, in this case based on the date of the news story and the category of its content, lets visitors return to the page later. Here the permalink, as shown in the address bar, is http://www.nytimes. com/2006/01/08/ politics/08cnd-policy .html.

Background

Permalinks are a way to ensure that site visitors can save URLs and return to them as needed or share them with other people. Permalinks are useful for any site genre (Pattern Group A) that has BROWSABLE CONTENT (B2).

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PROBLEM

It??s frustrating for visitors to try to return to a site that they found interesting, only to discover that the page they bookmarked is no longer there.

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SOLUTION

magnify image Figure K13.2 Permalinks are short URLs that incorporate the immutable aspects of the page to make the page perpetually available.

Create permalinks for site content that you want to be perpetually available. Temporary URLs are suitable for confidential content that you don’t want visitors’ browsers to cache. Use immutable aspects of the page (like date, topic, or street address) and view-specifying parameters to devise a naming pattern for permalinks. If a URL is meant to be saved or shared, design a naming convention that permits short (and preferably human-readable) URLs. Incorporate a directory structure into your URLs that will enable your servers to store large amounts of content perpetually.

Other Patterns to Consider

Consider using generic URLs for HOMEPAGE PORTALS (C1) and for CATEGORY PAGES (B8). Giving your site’s HOMEPAGE PORTAL (C1) and secure SIGN-IN/NEW ACCOUNT (H2) page permalinks will help visitors come back to them again and again. If you include a visitor’s search terms in the URL for a search result, the search can be saved as a permalink on PERSONAL E-COMMERCE (A1) sites, NEWS MOSAICS (A2), BLOGS (A12), or any other site genre. Beware that many e-mail readers do not handle URLs longer than one line, leading to a PAGE NOT FOUND (K14) error, so try to keep your URLs short. You can incorporate dynamic content, such as banner ads and navigation links, into a permalink page by using appropriately designed PAGE TEMPLATES (D1) and CONTENT MODULES (D2).

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