Re: subetha archive URLs

> That, plus the fact that the URL contains the string ".jsp".  That is
> a big no-no for anything that is supposed to be a permanent "archival"
> URL.  It's ugly and it ties you to a particular technology.

I disagree.

#1. SubEtha Mail isn't the type of application to get ported to other  
languages.
#2. Extensions are only meaningful to the server, not the user. I can  
map a file extension to anything. MySpace uses .cfm yet it's really  
cold fusion pages running on Java.

> RESTful means the URL refers to an object (e.g. a mail message)
> in a logical view, not what kind of language the server is
> implemented in!

Somehow it's ok that Mailman's url's end in .html? How is that any  
different than .jsp?

> Jon Scott Stevens wrote:
> > I guess we could write a servlet that responds to the
> > listname/year/month in the url.
>
> That is good for the month summary page.  But for the "permalink"
> for each message a continuously increasing per-list counter may be
> better.  One reason is if you want to provide netnews access, the
> way gmane does, then the sequence number of newnews can be the same
> as the message number in the URL.

+1

> A message permalink might be: http://hostname/lists/list-name/NNNN
>
> One also wants a permalink for a thread/conversation.  (Gmane has
> that.)  This should allow easy switching between a blog/forum view,
> and a more mail archive browsing view.

+1 That's a good idea. We don't currently have a direct link to the  
thread itself. Only to the first message in the thread. But then  
again, what's the difference?

> > I kinda do like gmane's blog interface to reading messages. The  
> thread > head is the posting and the responses are all 'comments.'  
> That's an
> > interesting way to do things.
>
> It's an elegant way to integrate "forums" that a lot of sites have
> with mailing lists: people can use whatever interface they prefer,
> and still talk to each other.

+1

> > I don't like their regular message reading interface with frames.  
> Gag.
>
> It's ugly but quite functional.

I disagree. It doesn't provide a nice view for reading the entire  
thread.

>   In any case, it basically just another
> frontend (skin/theme) to the same archive.  One advantage over
> the standard mailman view: if a thread spans multiple months, it  
> doesn't
> get arbitrarily divived.  Plus it handle low-volume lists as well as
> high-volume lists well.  Plus the two-pane approach is much more
> efficient for reading messages, because you're not constantly flipping
> between list view and message view.

Actually, you are still flipping because there are still two panes. I  
prefer to read a message, get to the bottom of it and then click next  
message in thread.

> Using AJAX (when available) rather than frames would be probably be
> an improvement.

What about a gmail style interface?

jon