diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 31eb9d22..7b344991 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ h5ai is provided under the terms of the [MIT License](http://github.com/lrsjng/h
 * fixes path problems on servers running on Windows in PHP version
 * fixes broken links in custom headers/footers while zipped download enabled
 * fixes problems with thumbnails for files with single or double quotes in filename
+* improves url hashes
 * updates year in `LICENSE.TXT`
 * updates es translation
 * adds zh-tw translation by [Yao Wei](http://github.com/medicalwei)
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/js/inc/Core.js b/src/_h5ai/js/inc/Core.js
index ad48cda2..a692fc3b 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/js/inc/Core.js
+++ b/src/_h5ai/js/inc/Core.js
@@ -44,6 +44,35 @@
 				});
 				return map;
 			}(config.types)),
+			hash = function (obj) {
+
+				if ($.isPlainObject(obj)) {
+					var hashStr = '';
+					$.each($.extend({}, hash(), obj), function (key, value) {
+						if (value) {
+							hashStr += '/' + key + '=' + value;
+						}
+					});
+					hashStr = '#!' + hashStr;
+					window.location.hash = hashStr;
+					return hashStr;
+				} else {
+					var result = {},
+						parts = document.location.hash.split('/');
+
+					if (parts.length >= 2 || parts[0] === '#!') {
+						parts.shift();
+						$.each(parts, function (idx, part) {
+
+							var match = /^([^=]*)=(.*?)$/.exec(part);
+							if (match) {
+								result[match[1]] = match[2];
+							}
+						});
+					}
+					return typeof obj === 'string' ? result[obj] : result;
+				}
+			},
 			api = function () {
 
 				return settings.h5aiAbsHref + "php/api.php";
@@ -68,6 +97,7 @@
 					viewmode = amplify.store(settings.store.viewmode);
 				}
 				viewmode = $.inArray(viewmode, settings.viewmodes) >= 0 ? viewmode : settings.viewmodes[0];
+				H5AI.core.hash({view: viewmode});
 
 				$viewDetails.add($viewIcons).removeClass("current");
 				if (viewmode === "details") {
@@ -123,13 +153,19 @@
 					if ($.inArray("icons", settings.viewmodes) >= 0) {
 						$("<li id='viewicons' class='view'><a href='#'><img alt='view-icons' /><span class='l10n-icons'>icons</span></a></li>")
 							.find("img").attr("src", image("view-icons")).end()
-							.click(function () { viewmode("icons"); })
+							.find("a").click(function (event) {
+								viewmode("icons");
+								event.preventDefault();
+							}).end()
 							.appendTo($navbar);
 					}
 					if ($.inArray("details", settings.viewmodes) >= 0) {
 						$("<li id='viewdetails' class='view'><a href='#'><img alt='view-details' /><span class='l10n-details'>details</span></a></li>")
 							.find("img").attr("src", image("view-details")).end()
-							.click(function () { viewmode("details"); })
+							.find("a").click(function (event) {
+								viewmode("details");
+								event.preventDefault();
+							}).end()
 							.appendTo($navbar);
 					}
 				}
@@ -257,6 +293,7 @@
 					$(".lang").text(lang);
 					$(".langOption").removeClass("current");
 					$(".langOption." + lang).addClass("current");
+					H5AI.core.hash({lang: lang});
 				}
 
 				formatDates(selected.dateFormat || settings.dateFormat);
@@ -386,6 +423,7 @@
 
 		return {
 			settings: settings,
+			hash: hash,
 			api: api,
 			image: image,
 			icon: icon,
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/js/inc/Finder.js b/src/_h5ai/js/inc/Finder.js
index 62ea0107..060fc2e6 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/js/inc/Finder.js
+++ b/src/_h5ai/js/inc/Finder.js
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
 				} else {
 					$filter.removeClass('current');
 				}
+				H5AI.core.hash({filter: val});
 			},
 			parseFilterSequence = function (sequence) {
 
@@ -91,6 +92,12 @@
 							})
 						.end()
 						.appendTo($("#navbar"));
+
+					var initialFilter = H5AI.core.hash('filter');
+					if (initialFilter) {
+						$('#filter input').val(initialFilter);
+						checkState(false);
+					}
 				}
 			};
 
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/js/inc/Sort.js b/src/_h5ai/js/inc/Sort.js
index 0954298d..074ccf0b 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/js/inc/Sort.js
+++ b/src/_h5ai/js/inc/Sort.js
@@ -78,14 +78,15 @@
 				var order = orders[id];
 
 				$all.removeClass("ascending").removeClass("descending");
-				order.head.addClass(order.clas).attr("href", "#!/sort=" + id);
+				order.head.addClass(order.clas);
 				sort(order.fn);
+				H5AI.core.hash({sort: id});
 			},
 			init = function () {
 
 				var $ascending = $("<img src='" + H5AI.core.image("ascending") + "' class='sort ascending' alt='ascending' />"),
 					$descending = $("<img src='" + H5AI.core.image("descending") + "' class='sort descending' alt='descending' />"),
-					initialOrder = /^.*#!.*\/sort=(.*?)(?:\/.*)?$/.exec(document.location),
+					initialOrder = H5AI.core.hash('sort'),
 					$header = $("#extended li.header"),
 					$label = $header.find("a.label"),
 					$date = $header.find("a.date"),
@@ -125,27 +126,27 @@
 					}
 				};
 
-				sortBy(initialOrder ? initialOrder[1] : H5AI.core.settings.sortorder);
+				sortBy(initialOrder ? initialOrder : H5AI.core.settings.sortorder);
 
 				$label
-					.attr("href", "#!/sort=na")
 					.append($ascending.clone()).append($descending.clone())
-					.click(function () {
+					.click(function (event) {
 						sortBy("n" + ($label.hasClass("ascending") ? "d" : "a"));
+						event.preventDefault();
 					});
 
 				$date
-					.attr("href", "#!/sort=da")
 					.prepend($ascending.clone()).prepend($descending.clone())
-					.click(function () {
+					.click(function (event) {
 						sortBy("d" + ($date.hasClass("ascending") ? "d" : "a"));
+						event.preventDefault();
 					});
 
 				$size
-					.attr("href", "#!/sort=sa")
 					.prepend($ascending.clone()).prepend($descending.clone())
-					.click(function () {
+					.click(function (event) {
 						sortBy("s" + ($size.hasClass("ascending") ? "d" : "a"));
+						event.preventDefault();
 					});
 			};