Redirection

Greetings

I have a situation where a number of documents were served from a 
database and generated 'on-the-fly'.  These documents were all accessed 
from a single URI, with the query string selecting the document.

To enable Google to index the material, the documents are being 
re-created as HTML documents rather than dynamic ones.  The original URI 
will still provide the listings (and metadata), but the links will be to 
the new HTML documents.

The problem, as I see it, is that calling the URI with the old 'display 
document' query string will no longer work since the document content 
will no longer be stored in the database.

Would it be acceptable to send an HTTP 301 code from the programme to 
redirect the user agent to new document location (the HTML file)?

I appreciate that the Guidelines don't like META element redirects, but 
what about this technique?

I don't see how this could constitute an accessibility problem unless 
the user agent were unable to process a 301, but then is every UA fully 
aware of every HTTP code?

Cheers

M

-- 
Matthew Smith
Kadina Business Consultancy
South Australia
http://www.kbc.net.au

Received on Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:48:49 UTC