Question about HBH's user pages

So, I'm making a website… really more like a web environment where I can try out new things and ideas. One of the sites I'm using for reference is HBH.

So, I come on here to get an idea of how the user profile pages work and the URL box is like this:

www.hellboundhackers.org/user/Serosin.html

And it's like that for every other user, too. So, does everyone with an account on this site have their own, separate page on a server somewhere? What I was trying to do was make one single user page, and then populate it differently based on who you want to look at with server side language magic. Does HBH just create a new user page every time there's a new account and stick it onto the site? That seems cumbersome.

Nope, it would be crazy :)

Well, the simplest answer to your question is URL Rewriting… this way you only need minimal changes to your project.

Another way to go is to use a Routing Engine… For example if you take a look at any php framework you will see that this feature is already there… just to name some of them: Symfony, Laravel, CodeIgniter and so on (just google for php framework). But keep in mind that this solution will require you much work since it is considered "application code", so you need unit tests to check your routes otherwise you may mess up your app.

You should choose which method to use depending on your needs, some times a routing engine is enough, sometimes you only want to use some rewrite rules but bigger projects, in my opinion, should use both of them.

Now I'm out for work and so I don't have much time to explain, maybe I'll do later…

Anyway, if you browse the web you should find tons of useful papers and documentations.

This was very helpful. Thanks :D

I'll be looking through papers and other resources now that I know what these techniques are called, but sure, tell me more if you've got a chance and still feel like going into detail. Any help would be appreciated.

Well, I really encourage you to read through some docs because in my experience this is the best method to learn new things. Also you can better understand what you may need in your particular project and then ask for more specific help. It would be impossible for me to cover all the aspect of these concepts in a forum post, and probably pointless.

Anyway, if you still need help feel free to pm me and I'll be glad to help you.