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BBC MMVIII
URL Design for Information Architects
Deanna Marbeck
Silver Oliver
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What we are going to tell you
• Why you should care about URLs
• How to design beautiful URLs
• When to think about URL design
• What deliverables come out of the design process
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What we are not going to tell you
• What are URLs
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Do you design URLs?
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Why do I care about URL design?
First 10 minutes of my working day
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www.hotmail.com
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http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/08/27/funny-pictures-how-many-calorees/
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http://mikeschinkel.com/blog/welldesignedurlsarebeautiful/
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http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/04/doctor_wh
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http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/04/doctor_wh
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http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2008/04/
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doctor_who_rss_url.php 17-Jun-2008 07:42
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2008/04/22/54453.shtml
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2008/04/22/54453.shtml
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What does this all mean?
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URLs are as important as the logos and navigation of a site
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/
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What helps you design these URLs?
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The guiding principles
• Persistent• Readable• Hackable
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Which takes priority?
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Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
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Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Persistent
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Persistent
• Why?• Other sites link to you• Users bookmark you• Search engines find you
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/070d193a-845c-479f-980e-bef15710653e
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Persistent
• Prince?• The Artist Formerly Known As Prince?• Symbol?• The Purple One?• Prince Rogers Nelson?
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Persistent
• Prince?• The Artist Formerly Known As Prince?• The Purple One?• Prince Rogers Nelson?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/070d193a-845c-479f-980e-bef15710653e
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“Designing mostly means leaving information out”
Sir Tim Berners-Lee said that
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What NOT to put in URLs
• Author’s name• Status• Subject• Filename extensions• Software mechanisms• Session ids
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http://open.bbc.co.uk/labs/innovation_labs_future_media_t.php
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Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Persistent
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Human Readable
• Why?• Don’t only appear in the address bar• Easy to understand• Easy to remember• More meaningful• Arguably some SEO benefit
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www.bbc.co.uk/topics/dogs
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Human Readable
• rubbishandrecycling?• rubbish-and-recycling?• rubbish_and_recycling?• special characters
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~
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Human Readable
• rubbishandrecycling?• rubbish-and-recycling?• rubbish_and_recycling?• special characters• length
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Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Persistent
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Hackable
• Why?• Represents the logical structure of your site• Provides extra information – orientation within the site• Lets people move to higher levels of your site• Lets people guess the address for a similar resource
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/programmes/schedules/2008/08/04
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Hackable
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/programmes/schedules/2008/08/04
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/programmes/schedules/2008/08/10
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/programmes/schedules/2008/08/10
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Hackable
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/programmes/schedules/2008/08/04
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/programmes/schedules/2008/08/10
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/programmes
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/programmes
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Hackable
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/programmes/schedules/2008/08/04
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/programmes/schedules/2008/08/10
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/programmes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour
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Hackable
• Consistent use of labels• Similar resources should sit at the same level• Provide a meaningful page for every level of your hierarchy
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The guiding principles
• Persistent• Readable• Hackable
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It’s a balancing act
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Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Persistent
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The design process and deliverables
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Why do I care?
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Michael Smethurst
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aka My Boss
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Traditional IA
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bbc.co.uk/programmes
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Elegant, extensible, logical
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“What URL is that at?”
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http://flickr.com/photos/hurleygurley/4338767/
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When?
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At the beginning of the design process
• Understand user requirements• Understand business requirements• Understand your data – domain model
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/beta
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Music Domain Model
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Design your URLs
• Make your schema• Understand the relationships between your data• Design your URLs from the bottom up• One URL for every resource
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Music Domain Model
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/070d193a-845c-479f-980e-bef15710653e/releases/singles
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/070d193a-845c-479f-980e-bef15710653e/releases
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/070d193a-845c-479f-980e-bef15710653e
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/070d193a-845c-479f-980e-bef15710653e
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/070d193a-845c-479f-980e-bef15710653e.xml
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Music URLs
• /music/artists/:artist/releases/:releasetype• /music/artists/:artist/releases• /music/artists/:artist• /music/artists• /music
• /music/about• /music/developers• /music/contactus
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More music URLs
• /music/labels• /music/labels/:label• /music/labels/:label/releases• /music/labels/:label/releases/:type• /music/labels/:label/artists• /music/releases• /music/releases/:release• /music/releases/:release/tracks• /music/releases/:release/events• /music/releases/:release/contributors• /music/releases/:release/links
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Now you have a site structure
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Job done!
http://flickr.com/photos/neloqua/243001463/
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Deliverables
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Communication
• Walls of URLs • Lists of pages• Wireframes• Designs• Prototypes
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URLs on postits
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Walls of URLs
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URL syntax
• :artist• {service}
• /music/artists/:artist• /{service}/programmes
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Involve your team
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Spreadsheets
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/suneko/373318607/
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Sitemaps
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Schematic
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Designs
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Prototype - http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/purrr/126597849/
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Job done!
http://flickr.com/photos/neloqua/243001463/
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Summary
• URLs are part of the user experience• Information Architects should be involved in the design of URLs • Create beautiful URLs and beautiful site structures
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thank/you
deanna.marbeck@bbc.co.uksilver.oliver@bbc.co.uk
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