W3C's 1998 Principle: Stable Web URLs Are a Mark of Good Design

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A 1998 W3C article by Tim Berners-Lee argues that well-designed URIs should never change once published on the web. The core principle holds that website owners are responsible for maintaining the longevity of their links, as broken URLs degrade the web's usefulness. The piece outlines practical advice on structuring URIs to avoid embedding details like technology, file extensions, or dates that may become outdated. The article recently resurfaced on Hacker News, attracting renewed attention and discussion among developers. Despite being over two decades old, its guidance remains widely cited as a foundational web design principle.

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