Design URL Structure as an Interface
Navigation & IA · navigation, search, consistency
Updated 2026-07-28
- Treat the address bar as part of the product. It is read, edited, shared, bookmarked, and indexed, which makes it one of the most public surfaces you have.
- Make addresses readable. Words describing the content beat numeric identifiers, and a person should be able to guess what a link opens before clicking it.
- Mirror the information architecture. If a page sits inside a section in the navigation, the address should say so, and the two should never disagree.
- Put user-visible state in the address:
- The current tab or view.
- Applied filters and the search query.
- Sort order.
- Pagination position.
- Leave transient state out of it. Which accordion is open, which tooltip was shown, and internal request identifiers are not part of the page's identity.
- Keep old addresses working. Every renamed section leaves links in email, chat, and documents, so redirect rather than break them.
- Never put anything sensitive in an address. Query strings end up in logs, referrer headers, browser history, and shared screenshots.
- Keep them stable and short enough to survive being pasted into a chat window without wrapping into an unclickable mess.
A well-designed address means a user can share exactly what they are looking at, which is a feature you cannot add later.
Related guides
UX Handbook