This is a copy of the Substack article.
Find the original on https://bestiadev.substack.com/p/web-links-for-humans.
Article date: 2023-05-07T14:50:06.240Z

Web links for //humans

I don't want to see links with "https://www." anymore

I would like to propose this shorter format for human-readable internet links:

//bestia.dev
//github.com/bestia-dev
//bestiadev.substack.com
//youtube.com/@bestia-dev-tutorials

Internet links are ubiquitous today. We all expect them to just open in the browser. And they do.

We don’t need to see “https://” or “http://” or “www.” anymore, it is just redundant for human eyes.

Double slash originally means “use the same protocol for this link”. The main protocol we use today is already https. It makes sense that this is the default protocol for “//”.

History

I remember when there were many protocols popular on the internet. Yes, I am so old.

But today everything is “https://”.

It is even rare to find an old “http://” around. Usually, these sites are just internet fossils, like dinosaurs. For a good website, http is automatically changed to https by the browser or server.

Very rarely do I see links for any other network protocol written in human texts. It is ok to have long, verbose, and precisely exact links for internal use in computer code, but humans don’t need to bother with protocols for a link that will always be opened in the browser.

We have specialized programs for other protocols; for them, it is mandatory to know the right protocol. They will not clutter human-readable texts.

Nobody listens

I didn’t yet find a place where somebody would listen to what I have to say about this. So I must relieve my chest by writing it in my substack.

open-source and free as a beer

My open-source projects are free as a beer (MIT license).
I just love programming.
But I need also to drink. If you find my projects and tutorials helpful, please buy me a beer by donating to my PayPal.
You know the price of a beer in your local bar ;-) So I can drink a free beer for your health :-)

Na zdravje! Alla salute! Prost! Nazdravlje! 🍻

//bestia.dev
//github.com/bestia-dev
//bestiadev.substack.com
//youtube.com/@bestia-dev-tutorials