Making Short URIs
This technique gives a possible implementation for the CategoryBpUris that doesn't really rely on any technology. See also RedirectingUris for a technique that provides more flexibility.
Pre-requesites:
- A stable URI for entry points.
- A list of what the various useful entry points are. Note that this is not just the "front page" - the latency of mobile browsing means that a bookmark or even typing a URI for a page within the site one step from the desired page is often better then arriving at a point two clicks away.
Implementations Steps: Either
- Provide a set of short URIs for entry points through the way pages are added to your service (difficult to maintain over the long term) or
Simply provide a stable URI to each resource without worrying about length, and implement RedirectingUris to provide a short URI for useful entry points.
Do not...
- just move the page to a new URI
See Cool URIs don't change for some discussion of why not.
- Assume a single "portal"-type entry is useful
- In the context of mobile browsing, navigating through a list of links on a page is often almost as difficult as entering a short URI - and the time it takes to load a new page means that multiple entry points are likely to be useful