On Tue, Jun 16, 2020 at 07:27:58PM BST, Steve Izma wrote: > > I find the whole idea of typesetting URLs in printed matter to be > full of contradictions, but this is mostly on account of how > contemporary Web frameworks construct URLs for dynamic pages and > need all sorts of variables set in the posted URL. If Web sites > were set up with mostly static pages in a normally organized > filesystem hierarchy, URLs would be simpler and more likely human > readable. As it is, no one is going to retype a URL that's longer > than a few words from a printed page. From an online PDF, the URL > shouldn't actually be typeset, I'd argue, but hidden in the link. > > Anyway, my strategies for typesetting for a printed document: > > - test the URL iteratively by removing as much as possible from > the end of the URL until you have the minimum number of > characters for getting to the page; usually this means removing > all the set variables; > - if the resulting URL is longer than the output line length, > break the line and begin the URL on the next line > - there are well-established rules for breaking a URL, which > include: never add a hyphen to show a break; break the line > such that the beginning of the next line looks like a > continuation of the URL, e.g., with a slash; > - don't set the URL at all in the body of the text but use a > footnote or endnote marker and set the URL in the footnote or > endnote, since these are usually set in a smaller point size > and gives you more flexibility for fitting on lines; if a text > contains a lot of URLS, then set the notes as endnotes in a > longer line length, if possible; > - some publishers use a style that ignores any part of the URL > other than the site location; they expect that once the reader > gets to the Web site, they can use the site's search mechanism > for finding the appropriate material; > - since URLs are notoriously short-lived, encourage authors not > to use them at all but to cite printed material rather than > online material, or give complete bibliographic information > about the citation and a short reference to the home page of > the site. > > One of the key issues is that a printed work is very likely to > outlast the accuracy of a URL, so don't diminish the usefulness > of a printed work but relying on URLs. >
Hi Steve at al., My £0.02, and a first post here :^) A quick comment - somewhat related to the matter at hand. Some of the above are covered by URL scheme guidelines such as Clean URL[0]. Other can be remedied by concepts such as PURL[1]. None of it is panacea but good place to start, IMHO. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_URL [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistent_uniform_resource_locator Regards, Raf
