#Website structures and APIs

A survey of website structures and APIs.

#Twitter

#Routes

  • https://twitter.com
    • /: login / account creation landing page.
    • /home: primary feed for the logged-in user.
    • /explore: alternative feed for the logged-in/out user.
      • /explore/tabs/:tabID: explore tab feed for the logged-in/out user.
    • /notifications: notifications inbox for the logged-in user.
    • /messages: messages inbox for the logged-in user.
      • /messages/:id: message thread.
    • /search?q=:query: tweet search results for the logged-in user. This is frequently used for searching on tags like #foo.
    • /settings: configuration for the logged-in/out user.
      • /settings/about: Settings → General → Additional resources.
      • /settings/account/personalization: Settings → Privacy → Personalization and data.
      • /settings/your_twitter_data: Settings → Privacy → Your Twitter data.
      • /settings/profile: configuration for the logged-in user's profile (name, bio, location, etc).
      • …: Many more subpaths for the logged-in user.
    • /i/flow: workflow modal dialogs.
      • /i/flow/login: login workflow.
      • /i/flow/password_reset: password reset workflow.
      • /i/flow/convert_to_professional: professional account sign-up workflow.
    • /:username: public profile and feed for a user (tweets may be private).
      • /:username/status/:id: a public/private tweet.
      • /:username/status/:id/photo/:index: a tweet's photo carousel index.
      • /:username/lists: public/private lists for a user.
      • /:username/topics: topics for a user.
    • /i/lists/:listID: public/private list.
    • /i/release_notes: changelog.

#Content delivery networks (CDNs)

  • https://pbs.twimg.com
    • /media/:id?format=:format&name=:size: CDN for different formats like jpg and sizes like large.
    • /profile_banners/:userID/:contentID/:widthx:height: user profile banners.
    • /profile_images/:id/_:anotherID_:widthx:height.:format: user profile images.
  • https://abs.twimg.com: non-user content resources.
    • /favicons/:filename: Favicons.
    • /:filename: JavaScripts, manifest, and other files.
    • /fonts/v2/:filename: Web fonts.
  • https://ads-api.twitter.com

#APIs

  • https://twitter.com
    • /i/api
      • /1.1/account/settings.json
      • /graphql/?/UserTweets
      • /2/notifications/all.json
  • https://api.twitter.com
    • /1.1/jot/client_event.json

#Notes

  • The settings UI hierarchy does not correspond to the URL. For example, 1) Settings → 2) Privacy → 3) Your Twitter data → 4) Account → 5) Gender is /settings/your_twitter_data/gender and the sibling 5) Age tab is /settings/your_twitter_data/age. External links that would open a new tab are clearly marked (eg, see Legal links under /settings/about).
  • Tweets can appear in many UI contexts. Eg, both /home and /explore/tabs/:tabID have links to /:username/status/:id (ie, the URL hierarchy doesn't nest under /home and /explore, respectively). It makes sense both from a user interface / URL perspective to point to one location as every tweet is globally unique and associated with exactly one user.
  • Tweets are accessed by ID. This is nicely terse and avoids collisions. However, given that tweets are so short, their entire text contents would fit within URL limits like /niedzielski/status/hello-world. It would be interesting to experiment with this. What do you on collision, /niedzielski/status/hello-world-2? What about when a tweet is empty and just photos? Are named tweets more usable in practice or just cumbersome to share? Eg, https://twitter.com/niedzielski/status/1347422718929502210 vs https://twitter.com/niedzielski/status/exploring-a-new-art-style-for-natureelsewhere.-higher-resolution.-no-more-backpacker.-wip-sketch-screenshotsaturday-indiegamedev-httpnatureelsewhere.com. Compare to Stack Overflow.
  • The https://twitter.com/i/api endpoints support many query parameters.

#YouTube

#Routes

  • https://youtube.com
    • /feed:
      • /feed/explore:
      • /feed/library:
      • /feed/subscriptions:
    • /watch?v=:videoID: