Aaron Quint on Javascript Hash URLs
Sammy and the ‘#’ are for applications. It provides a way to maintain state in a world where you can require JavaScript and even require the presence of certain browsers. If you’re an application, that requires login/signup you can make a number of demands of your users. You also probably dont even want the crawlability. You’re using ‘#’ to maintain state for a specific user in a specific session.
Outside of the world of the ‘application’ you really, really shouldn’t rely on JavaScript being there for your site to work (at least at a basic level).
- Aaron Quint
Checkout the full article on @aq's blog.
I'm definitely a fan of dynamic javascript applications which utilize the #! method to support the back-button and deep linking. I wrote a Sammy-inspired Javascript URL router for JavascriptMVC and I agree with Aaron. Dynamic URLs for applications, static sites for traditional content. Where Gawker went wrong with their redesign is by confusing the two.