diff --git a/src/_h5ai/client/js/inc/boot.js b/src/_h5ai/client/js/inc/boot.js
index f3ddfc18..70f595d7 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/client/js/inc/boot.js
+++ b/src/_h5ai/client/js/inc/boot.js
@@ -6,19 +6,19 @@ modulejs.define('boot', ['$'], function ($) {
 
     var module = $('script[data-module]').data('module');
     var data = {action: 'get', setup: true, options: true, types: true, theme: true, langs: true};
-    var url;
+    var href;
 
     if (module === 'index') {
-        url = '.';
+        href = '.';
     } else if (module === 'info') {
         data.updatecmds = true;
-        url = 'server/php/index.php';
+        href = 'server/php/index.php';
     } else {
         return;
     }
 
     $.ajax({
-        url: url,
+        url: href,
         data: data,
         type: 'post',
         dataType: 'json'
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-api.php b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-api.php
index 805593dc..5694f201 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-api.php
+++ b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-api.php
@@ -58,16 +58,16 @@ class Api {
 
         if (Util::get_boolean_request_param("custom", false)) {
 
-            $url = Util::get_request_param("customHref");
-            $response["custom"] = $this->app->get_customizations($url);
+            $href = Util::get_request_param("customHref");
+            $response["custom"] = $this->app->get_customizations($href);
         }
 
         if (Util::get_boolean_request_param("items", false)) {
 
-            $url = Util::get_request_param("itemsHref");
+            $href = Util::get_request_param("itemsHref");
             $what = Util::get_request_param("itemsWhat");
             $what = is_numeric($what) ? intval($what, 10) : 1;
-            $response["items"] = $this->app->get_items($url, $what);
+            $response["items"] = $this->app->get_items($href, $what);
         }
 
         Util::json_exit($response);
@@ -80,15 +80,15 @@ class Api {
         Util::json_fail(Util::ERR_UNSUPPORTED, "thumbnails not supported", !HAS_PHP_JPEG);
 
         $type = Util::get_request_param("type");
-        $src_url = Util::get_request_param("href");
+        $src_href = Util::get_request_param("href");
         $width = Util::get_request_param("width");
         $height = Util::get_request_param("height");
 
         $thumb = new Thumb($this->app);
-        $thumb_url = $thumb->thumb($type, $src_url, $width, $height);
-        Util::json_fail(Util::ERR_FAILED, "thumbnail creation failed", $thumb_url === null);
+        $thumb_href = $thumb->thumb($type, $src_href, $width, $height);
+        Util::json_fail(Util::ERR_FAILED, "thumbnail creation failed", $thumb_href === null);
 
-        Util::json_exit(array("absHref" => $thumb_url));
+        Util::json_exit(array("absHref" => $thumb_href));
     }
 
 
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-app.php b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-app.php
index 88c685f9..716d4309 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-app.php
+++ b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-app.php
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ class App {
     }
 
 
-    public function to_url($path, $trailing_slash = true) {
+    public function to_href($path, $trailing_slash = true) {
 
         $rel_path = substr($path, strlen(ROOT_PATH));
         $parts = explode("/", $rel_path);
@@ -125,10 +125,10 @@ class App {
     }
 
 
-    public function to_path($url) {
+    public function to_path($href) {
 
-        $rel_url = substr($url, strlen(ROOT_HREF));
-        return Util::normalize_path(ROOT_PATH . "/" . rawurldecode($rel_url));
+        $rel_href = substr($href, strlen(ROOT_HREF));
+        return Util::normalize_path(ROOT_PATH . "/" . rawurldecode($rel_href));
     }
 
 
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ class App {
             foreach (scandir($path) as $name) {
                 if (
                     $this->is_hidden($name)
-                    || $this->is_hidden($this->to_url($path) . $name)
+                    || $this->is_hidden($this->to_href($path) . $name)
                     || (!is_readable($path .'/'. $name) && $this->get_option("view.hideIf403", false))
                 ) {
                     continue;
@@ -169,9 +169,9 @@ class App {
     }
 
 
-    public function is_managed_url($url) {
+    public function is_managed_href($href) {
 
-        return $this->is_managed_path($this->to_path($url));
+        return $this->is_managed_path($this->to_path($href));
     }
 
 
@@ -205,14 +205,14 @@ class App {
     }
 
 
-    public function get_items($url, $what) {
+    public function get_items($href, $what) {
 
-        if (!$this->is_managed_url($url)) {
+        if (!$this->is_managed_href($href)) {
             return array();
         }
 
         $cache = array();
-        $folder = Item::get($this, $this->to_path($url), $cache);
+        $folder = Item::get($this, $this->to_path($href), $cache);
 
         // add content of subfolders
         if ($what >= 2 && $folder !== null) {
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ class App {
 
             $html .= "<tr>";
             $html .= "<td class='fb-i'><img src='" . APP_HREF . "client/images/fallback/" . $type . ".png' alt='" . $type . "'/></td>";
-            $html .= "<td class='fb-n'><a href='" . $item->url . "'>" . basename($item->path) . "</a></td>";
+            $html .= "<td class='fb-n'><a href='" . $item->href . "'>" . basename($item->path) . "</a></td>";
             $html .= "<td class='fb-d'>" . date("Y-m-d H:i", $item->date) . "</td>";
             $html .= "<td class='fb-s'>" . ($item->size !== null ? intval($item->size / 1000) . " KB" : "" ) . "</td>";
             $html .= "</tr>";
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ class App {
     }
 
 
-    public function get_customizations($url) {
+    public function get_customizations($href) {
 
         if (!$this->get_option("custom.enabled", false)) {
             return array(
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ class App {
             );
         }
 
-        $path = $this->to_path($url);
+        $path = $this->to_path($href);
 
         $header = null;
         $header_type = null;
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-archive.php b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-archive.php
index 8ec405b3..77822e35 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-archive.php
+++ b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-archive.php
@@ -15,9 +15,9 @@ class Archive {
     }
 
 
-    public function output($type, $base_url, $urls) {
+    public function output($type, $base_href, $hrefs) {
 
-        $this->base_path = $this->app->to_path($base_url);
+        $this->base_path = $this->app->to_path($base_href);
         if (!$this->app->is_managed_path($this->base_path)) {
             return 500;
         }
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ class Archive {
         $this->dirs = array();
         $this->files = array();
 
-        $this->add_hrefs($urls);
+        $this->add_hrefs($hrefs);
 
         if (count($this->dirs) === 0 && count($this->files) === 0) {
             if ($type === "php-tar") {
@@ -150,9 +150,9 @@ class Archive {
     }
 
 
-    private function add_hrefs($urls) {
+    private function add_hrefs($hrefs) {
 
-        foreach ($urls as $href) {
+        foreach ($hrefs as $href) {
 
             if (trim($href) === "") {
                 continue;
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ class Archive {
             $d = Util::normalize_path(dirname($href), true);
             $n = basename($href);
 
-            if ($this->app->is_managed_url($d) && !$this->app->is_hidden($n)) {
+            if ($this->app->is_managed_href($d) && !$this->app->is_hidden($n)) {
 
                 $real_file = $this->app->to_path($href);
                 $archived_file = preg_replace("!^" . preg_quote(Util::normalize_path($this->base_path, true)) . "!", "", $real_file);
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-item.php b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-item.php
index 873d8ab0..6822cd60 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-item.php
+++ b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-item.php
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ class Item {
 
 
     public $app;
-    public $path, $url, $date, $size;
+    public $path, $href, $date, $size;
     public $is_folder, $is_content_fetched;
 
 
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class Item {
 
         $this->path = Util::normalize_path($path, false);
         $this->is_folder = is_dir($this->path);
-        $this->url = $app->to_url($this->path, $this->is_folder);
+        $this->href = $app->to_href($this->path, $this->is_folder);
         $this->date = @filemtime($this->path);
         $this->size = Util::filesize($app, $this->path);
         $this->is_content_fetched = false;
@@ -55,13 +55,13 @@ class Item {
     public function to_json_object() {
 
         $obj = array(
-            "absHref" => $this->url,
+            "absHref" => $this->href,
             "time" => $this->date * 1000, // seconds (PHP) to milliseconds (JavaScript)
             "size" => $this->size
         );
 
         if ($this->is_folder) {
-            $obj["isManaged"] = $this->app->is_managed_url($this->url);
+            $obj["isManaged"] = $this->app->is_managed_href($this->href);
             $obj["content"] = $this->is_content_fetched;
         }
 
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ class Item {
 
         $items = array();
 
-        if (!$this->app->is_managed_url($this->url)) {
+        if (!$this->app->is_managed_href($this->href)) {
             return $items;
         }
 
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-thumb.php b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-thumb.php
index 9390b45e..e93c56ea 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-thumb.php
+++ b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/class-thumb.php
@@ -23,9 +23,9 @@ class Thumb {
     }
 
 
-    public function thumb($type, $source_url, $width, $height) {
+    public function thumb($type, $source_href, $width, $height) {
 
-        $source_path = $this->app->to_path($source_url);
+        $source_path = $this->app->to_path($source_href);
         if (!file_exists($source_path) || Util::starts_with($source_path, CACHE_PATH)) {
             return null;
         }
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class Thumb {
 
         $name = "thumb-" . sha1("$source_path") . "-" . $width . "x" . $height . ".jpg";
         $thumb_path = $this->thumbs_path . "/" . $name;
-        $thumb_url = $this->thumbs_href . "/" . $name;
+        $thumb_href = $this->thumbs_href . "/" . $name;
 
         if (!file_exists($thumb_path) || filemtime($source_path) >= filemtime($thumb_path)) {
 
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ class Thumb {
             $image->save_dest_jpeg($thumb_path, 80);
         }
 
-        return file_exists($thumb_path) ? $thumb_url : null;
+        return file_exists($thumb_path) ? $thumb_href : null;
     }