Burying the URL →
Allen Pike on Chrome’s new option to hide URLs entirely, which I assume will be the default within a few months:
Perhaps URLs are just destined to be an implementation detail that the next generation of users won’t even know exists. Maybe I was crazy to think that URLs were a permanent part of our culture. Still, I’ll miss the damn things.
This change is probably a decent usability choice. It’s certainly self-serving, in that it’s clearly the best thing for Google: conceptually, you are no longer using the web. You are using Google full-time. The distinction between Google and everything else is blurred even further than it already was. As a developer and web enthusiast, this makes me sad.
But realistically, this is conceptually how most people use web browsers anyway, and it’s been this way for a long time. They’re just codifying this sad reality into the interface.
I’m interested to see if this makes phishing security better or worse, whether EV SSL certificates will be more necessary to be taken seriously, and what it does to the demand for premium domain names. If I were a domain-name squatter, broker, or reseller, between the flood of new TLDs and this, I’d be nervous.