Should RoR urls look like /users/register or /user/register?

Question

Should urls have pluralized words in them or singular?

I personally like:

/user/register

Is this against the 'convention'?

Answer 1

I think it depends on the way you think what it is.

From the perspective of syntax, it seems to me /user/register make more sense. While from the perspective of resources, the /users/register make sense.

Answer 2

Is there more than one User in your application?

If so, the standard /users/register would be the conventional REST url scheme for registering a new user - assuming this results in a user being created.

You might consider the more convention /users/new unless "register" really is a different action than creating a new user somehow.

Answer 3

Yes, that's against the RESTful convention of /users/new. However, I don't see much of an issue with using more user-friendly URLs, especially if you preserve the original REST URLs too. In all my applications, the first thing I do is setup routes to /signup, /login and /logout.

Answer 4

Plural form controllers are the convention, because it makes the most sense, it implies /users/ will be an index of users etc.

However, the only time I would consider using a singular form controller name here is if, for example: your application is a little more closed, and users cannot view/modify each other (no index), and you were using this controller only to allow users to register and view/update their own details. In that case the singular form can be a sensible option, but it's still a matter of preference.