Re: its name

Danny Ayers wrote:
> I am the middle of uploading a media file for a friend, and I realise
> she probably won't have a clue when I say its URI or even URL is...
> (IRI might actually work better).
>
> But it is its name dear...
>
> Can we somehow spread the idea of digital resources having names that
> start with http://    ?
>
> What is it's name? Oh, http://...
>   

I think you'll find that the rest of the world has settled on the term 
address and you'll be swimming very much against the flow to go with 
anything different.

What's more address more closely matches the observed semantics of 
ordinary web users, a web address is a way to get access to something 
(your media file) rather than a way of refering to it.  Once you've 
downloaded a video onto your machine there's no way to find it on your 
hard drive from its URI, you need its filename, or possibly other 
metadata such as an embedded title field.

> A bit clumsy, but you often hear www on television. You just don't get
> the idea it's a name for a resource.
>   

On the TV last night the weather forecaster advertised a new mobile 
version of their online weather updates with the phrase "found at the 
address below".  A URI was shown without the http://, after all you 
don't need to type the protocol section into the _address_ bar of your 
browser (and more knowledgeable power users know enough to call it by 
that name as used by browser suppliers -- except firefox who now call it 
Awsome Bar).

Best,
John

Received on Thursday, 8 April 2010 09:41:09 UTC