URI Choice Checklist

A few questions to consider when you choose a URI for a new location:

1- Can you easily write the chosen URI on a piece of paper, or can you remember it easily?
2- Can you spell the chosen URI on the phone?
3- Does the chosen URI give hints about the content of the resource? Will it still make sense if the resource evolves?
4- Did you choose to locate the URI near the root level of your Web server? Are you certain it is the best location?
5- Can you see any reason that would force you to move this resource in the future? New resources that would fit better at this location? A re-organisation of your server maybe?
6- A few technical tips for good choices: these tips are not detailed here, but the documents in the Further Reading section of this document provide more detailed explanations.
7- Keep it short. Use lower-case URIs if possible.
8- Organise your Web site by topics for big areas, and use dated URIs such as http://www.example.org/2003/10/meeting-minutes for standalone documents. You can also choose to use dated space in addition to a classification by Area for extra tidyness.
9- Use format negotiation to hide file extensions in URIs, giving you enough flexibility to change the underlying technology without too much pain.
10- And finally, since nobody is perfect, learn to manage URIs for when you find out your choice was not so good after all.

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