URL aesthetics are a source of constant fascination to me. I absolutely love trying to figure out how the code works behind sites that use interesting URLs. Generally, everything before the file and query string aren’t very exciting — they’re just domain names and protocols. The action occurs in the filename.

Some of the things I’m particularly fond of are URLs that include a query string immediately after a slash, without a filename. For example, a URL like /stuff/?do_something is always interesting. Only slightly less interesting are pages that include query strings after what look like static files, like index.html?id=100. Obviously we’re not really dealing with a static file, so what’s out there processing that request? Only the author knows …

I also admire URLs that use extra path information, like /index.cgi/path/to/file instead of a query string to pass information in to the request. Generally I hate URLs that have many, many parameters. Only rarely is it necessary to do things that way, and if it is, why aren’t you using the post method instead of get? I think the bottom line is that I like sites that were obviously constructed by people who care about how URLs look. The path of least resistance is boring.