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A comment on URLs are state containers. Parent comment

Re:URLs are state containers by eru on Sunday November 02, 2025 @08:59PM (#45795190)
> I genuinely don't understand why people don't get more upset over hitting refresh on a webpage and ending up in a significantly different place. It's mind-boggling and actually insulting as a user. Or grabbing a URL and sending to another person, only to find out it doesn't make sense.

The two use cases are in slight conflict: most of the time, when I share a URL, I don't want to share a specific scroll position (which probably doesn't even make sense, if the other guy has a different screen size.)

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Re:URLs are state containers by paulddraper on Sunday November 02, 2025 @09:14PM (#45795259)
Scroll, as parent said, is usually not included.

Obviously the URL is not all state, it doesn’t save your cursor or IME input. So there is some distinction between “important” and “unimportant” state.

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Re:URLs are state containers by eru on Sunday November 02, 2025 @09:28PM (#45795316)
Perhaps a better example: should video URLs (like on youtube) include a timestamp or not?

Youtube gives you both options, and either can be what you want. Youtube also seems to be smart enough to roughly remember where you were in the video, when you are reloading the page.

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