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Double Slash in Web Addresses Are Superfluous, Says Internet Architect

by Caleb Johnson on October 13, 2009 at 02:16 PM


As the old saying goes, hindsight is 20-20. That's the only explanation Sir Tim Berners-Lee offers for a mistake he made while designing the Internet. During an interview at a technology symposium in Washington Thursday, Berners-Lee said if he could go back and change one thing, he would leave out the "//" that appears at the beginning of a Web address. According to Beet.TV, the slashes are unnecessary, as long as there's an "http:" at the beginning of the URL. "Really, if you think about it, you don't need the double slash," Berners-Lee said. "Think of the amount of print that'd be saved if I just removed the double slash."

The man often credited with creating the Internet (no, not Al Gore) explained the mistake this way: "It seemed like a good idea at the time." Seeing as we've used that excuse, ourselves, innumerable instances, and it's never once worked, we've no other choice but to confirm that Berners-Lee is, in fact, a genius. [From: Beet.TV]

Tags: address, internet, technology, tim berners-lee, TimBerners-lee, top, url, web

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