Re: Why is a referrer header necessary?

On Tue, Apr 04, 2006 at 04:31:37PM -0600, Charlie Sorsby wrote:
> I don't understand why a "referrer header" should be necessary in
> order to check the validity of a page.

It isn't. 

> I've turned off "Enable referrer logging" in my web browser
> (opera 8.52); since then, I am unable to revalidate my pages
> conveniently.

> Before that, I could not do so by simply loading the original
> file from my local machine into my web browser and clicking the
> revalidate link.  (My actual pages are located on my ISP's system
> but I create the pages on my local freeBSD machine.)

The what link? Presumably it is a link to
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer which says "Validate the
page specified in the referer header". You can use
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2F instead
which (obviously) doesn't require a referer header.
 
> If I simply load a local file into my browser to check whether
> changes have broken validity, I can't just click on the revalidate
> link on that page; I must go to your home page and load the file.
> A bloody nuisance that does not encourage me to keep my pages
> valid.

Given a local file on your system, there is no way to write a link
that will send the content of that file to the validator on the w3.org
site for checking.

Most browsers have plugins which add a menu option that will perform a
file upload to the validator.

You can also install the validator locally and run a non-public
webserver for local testing.

> Now I find that, even if I want to recheck pages on my ISP's
> machine -- i.e. my personal web pages -- I much change the
> preferances set on my web browser from the privacy-preserving
> settings that I normally have set to allow referrer logging.

No, you don't. See above.

(I read the mailing list, please address responses there and do not CC
me, thanks).

-- 
David Dorward                                      http://dorward.me.uk

Received on Wednesday, 5 April 2006 09:34:29 UTC