[sash_007]

Hello friends,

I am just wondering what makes a  url look like this 

http://www.dafont.com/new.php?page=4

and though there is rewrite url method available why do these sites keep this  type of url

[Geeks]

it is normally used when the pages are stored in a database then the 4 is a reference to the ID of the row.

the reason for storing the page in a database is that it can be more effectively searched and updated.

[jnicol]

sash_007, on 16 March 2010 - 05:56 AM, said:

I am just wondering what makes a  url look like this 

http://www.dafont.com/new.php?page=4

Well, that's the standard way of writing a query string: ?var1=val1&var2=val2&etc

Each variable in the string is used to dynamically change the content displayed on the page. As Geeks mentioned above this is usually accomplished by extracting data from a database, based on the query string.

sash_007, on 16 March 2010 - 05:56 AM, said:

and though there is rewrite url method available why do these sites keep this  type of url

I can think of a couple of reasons:

1. Older sites that were built before widespread adoption of "pretty URLs"
2. Sites that are hand-crafted, and don't make use of a CMS or programming framework that takes care of URL rewriting
3. Sites that do use a framework or CMS, but the developer isn't aware of how to enable URL rewriting using .htaccess

I also think it is worth bearing in mind that coding frameworks such as Codeigniter, CakePHP, etc, require that each URL segment appears in a specific order:

controller/action/var1/var2/etc/

This doesn't allow for the same flexibility as a standard query string, especially if people are linking to your site. Adding, removing or moving a segment might break existing links.