diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0f49ed7..dd88e47 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -11,8 +11,9 @@ No server side code is required - it's all just static
 files - and all modern web servers support Range (tested lighttpd, cherokee,
 apache). Tested (briefly) in IE, FF, Chrome.
 
-Usage: symlink the log to /log, or alter the url in logtail.js. Other settings
-available in logtail.js including poll frequency. Then browse to index.html
+Usage: symlink the log to /log, provide ?url=http://my.custom.path/log, or alter
+the url in logtail.js. Other settings available in logtail.js including poll
+frequency. Then browse to index.html
 
 License is GNU GPL 3; see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/
 
diff --git a/logtail.js b/logtail.js
index 6506b9b..3ae5b52 100644
--- a/logtail.js
+++ b/logtail.js
@@ -7,7 +7,10 @@ var dataelem = "#data";
 var pausetoggle = "#pause";
 var scrollelems = ["html", "body"];
 
-var url = "log";
+var urlString = window.location.href;
+var urlObject = new URL(urlString);
+var urlParam = urlObject.searchParams.get("url");
+var url = urlParam ?? "log"
 var fix_rn = true;
 var load = 30 * 1024; /* 30KB */
 var poll = 1000; /* 1s */
@@ -146,7 +149,7 @@ function show_log() {
     if (reverse) {
         var t_a = t.split(/\n/g);
         t_a.reverse();
-        if (t_a[0] == "") 
+        if (t_a[0] == "")
             t_a.shift();
         t = t_a.join("\n");
     }
@@ -163,7 +166,7 @@ function error(what) {
     kill = true;
 
     $(dataelem).text("An error occured :-(.\r\n" +
-                     "Reloading may help; no promises.\r\n" + 
+                     "Reloading may help; no promises.\r\n" +
                      what);
     scroll(0);