Joel A. Erickson wrote:
I'm assuming numbers are used because it's easier on the programming side. But wouldn't it be easier for the users if it was the name instead. It probably has its downsides, but if author lookup was based on a name, then when the name was modified, the system could just look for the closest match(es). Or, I suppose, the author number could be forwarded, 3505 -> 744.
The canonical url for linking to an author is http://www.gutenberg.org/author/Mark_Twain This is described in http://www.gutenberg.org/howto-link
On a side note, the cookies for personalizing the PG skin seem to teminate rather quickly. Usually they last less than a day, it seems. Has anyone else noticed this? Perhaps I should ask Marcello.
They should terminate a year from issue. Maybe your browser limits the duration to one session? -- Marcello Perathoner webmaster@gutenberg.org