I’ve been working on this for a while, but let’s make it official: I started a little Tumblr-like microblog about software craft and quality!

[mwichary@mastodon.online]

@jimniels Thanks! Added here, maybe it helps someone! https://unsung.aresluna.org/mailbag-urls-as-ui/

[splorp@mastodon.social]

@mwichary @cogdog One pattern I use a lot to locate my own images is for tags.

https://flickr.com/photos/splorp/tags/blue

[mx@typo.social]

@splorp @mwichary @cogdog Slightly offtopic, but I still use `/photo.gne?id=` URL to find where I downloaded certain photos years ago: https://www.flickr.com/photo.gne?rb=1&id=3399133066

[luke@typo.social]

@splorp @mwichary @cogdog look at that patina on that bus design. Just don’t look at the poorly applied window tint.

[splorp@mastodon.social]

@mx @mwichary @cogdog Just the fact that those legacy Game Neverending URIs still function after all this time is mind-blowing.

[splorp@mastodon.social]

@Luke @mwichary @cogdog Those air pockets make my teeth hurt.

[mwichary@mastodon.online]

@splorp @mx @cogdog Cool URIs Never End

[dokas@mas.to]

@mwichary @splorp @mx @cogdog Just wanted to pipe up and mention that while the photo.gne trick isn't advertised it's known and so useful I even have a Launchbar search plugin for it.

[imsop@tech.lgbt]

@mez @mwichary

Off the top of my head...

ID first means the URL can survive truncation of the slug part. Particularly good if you can keep the prefix short.

Slug first means URLs sort in alphabetical order by their slug. Maybe more suitable for small numbers of items, like a blog?

ID first is also marginally easier to construct a URL by hand - you generally don't need to add a fake slug, just end the URL at the ID and it still meets the pattern

Random example of slug-first that happened to be in my history:
- canonical URL: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/stargate-revived-prime-video-new-series-1236431118/
- doesn't work with only ID: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/1236431118/
- works if you know the format and add a fake slug: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/yeehaw-1236431118/

[mwichary@mastodon.online]

@imsop @mez In theory a well-functioning URL bar/omnibox should handle both, so that’s somewhat reassuring.

[imsop@tech.lgbt]

@mwichary @mez
I actually found the example by typing "-123" into Firefox's address bar and looking what it came up with

However, Firefox's completion searches history by both URL and title, in any order. If I type "new stargate series", I get both that article and https://reactormag.com/stargate-amazon-mgm-studios/

[paulmison@sfba.social]

@cogdog @mwichary the URL structure for images (id, secret, size) is described in the API docs. https://www.flickr.com/services/api/misc.urls.html
(I built a few things on the Flickr API circa 2005-2010. I suspect I can still remember some of the flickr.photos.search arguments.)

[cogdog@cosocial.ca]

@paulmison @mwichary That api has held strong, With little more the docs and the Flickr PHP library I built two sites like 12 years ago that use the API and they still work

https://pechaflickr.net/
https://5card.Cogdogblog.com

[mwichary@mastodon.online]

I don’t know if this is spicy (I honestly don’t even know what “spicy” means anymore on the internet), but wrote what I learned about making a bug process work for more people than just engineers: https://unsung.aresluna.org/how-to-make-sure-a-designer-never-files-a-bug-again/

[mwichary@mastodon.online]

For my 150th (!) post, a look back at Apple’s breathing lights: https://unsung.aresluna.org/just-a-little-detail-that-wouldnt-sell-anything/

[michaelporter@ottawa.place]

@mwichary Ha, you've reminded me of an old MacBook I had when I was teaching that did that. The kids in the class noticed the “breathing”

[vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net]

@mwichary what a nicely written post. thank you. i always found the sleep light’s rhythm very cozy on my iBook/PB/iMac G5, but hadn’t realized the period was tuned to human breathing. just a wonderful detail. the apple I fell in love with of the 2000s.

[kwramm@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@mwichary to me, this stuff DID sell it. The attention to detail is just what made those machines special and a joy to use. That's what "going the extra mile" looks like in product design

[pierrenick@hachyderm.io]

@mwichary What a nice post. I had actually totally forgotten about them. Especially the ones in the latch button of the PowerBooks. It really was so soothing.

[stuartmarks@mastodon.social]

@mwichary Interesting. I didn’t pick up on the “breathing” aspect but I recall that the slow pulsing was quite soothing. It was also useful and usable: it conveyed information if you looked at it, without attracting attention to itself.

By contrast, many things (like cursors) blink too fast for my taste, saying “Hurry up and type something!” Even a non-blinking red LED, like on a TV in a darkened hotel room, is too harsh. I carry a roll of gaffer tape in my travel kit for such situations.