Re: RE : link in new window debate

> I have ran across several Websites which like to keep you there.  No matter
> how many times I hit the back button, my browser just won't leave their

Broken back buttons are often not the result of an attempt to lock you in
but the result of trying to do client side redirects with scripting or
meta Refresh.  Scripting ones are generally associated with code that
tries to identify your browser, screen size, etc. (browser sniffing)
and for most browsers indicates only a surface knowledge of scripting,
as modern browsers allow you to replace the current page, rather than
just push another one on the history stack.

Use of meta Refresh is a SHOULD NOT in the HTML specification, but no-one
reads that.  It is done because people aren't prepared to learn how
to configure the server to do it properly (although very cheap web space
may not give you access to the server configuration).

The scripting versions, more often than not, leave you with a completely
blank page if you have scripting disabled.

Received on Wednesday, 19 November 2003 17:11:54 UTC