Dear whoever is building all these web sites for St. Paul:
I’ve noticed an odd trend in many of the public sector web sites I’ve had to use in the St. Paul region. The MN History Center site…The St. Paul School District web site…various event sites…whoever is building these sites has a passion for session variables as URLs.
Please stop. I can’t share links on any of these sites with anyone.
Thanks!
3 Comments
They must have stopped, because I don’t see what you’re talking about on those sites.
I know that some local government agencies, schools, and nonprofits use content management system from Saint Paul-based company Avenet (avenet.net). The URLs that their software generates are… not what you might hope for. Here’s their “about” page: http://www.avenet.net/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={4C800A4F-5885-43FD-8747-C31EAD22927F}
Hmm…maybe you’re right! I can’t get that to happen again on the MNHS site. I was searching for events and trying to email the URLs, but they kept ‘resetting’ as the session had timed out.
I admittedly haven’t used the school district site since having to pick a school last spring. THAT was a pain, as you couldn’t share any links with anyone as all the school information pages and comparisons were being generated via session variables. Maybe they got enough complaints since then. ;o)
I’ve never worried THAT much about ‘human readable’ URLs. They’re great, but not as important as some make them out to be, IMHO. That said, there’s really no reason for a GUID in there. ;o)
I’m not a human readable URL zealot, but I do favor a certain URL aesthetic that tends to be readable — and typable, which the GUID is most definitely not.