Re: Forcing to another page to load

On Sat, 5 Jul 1997, Walter Ian Kaye wrote:

> At 9:25p -0400 07/05/97, Rob Lines wrote:
> > i was wondering how you can force the browser to another page...
> > ie. i move my web page to another site, and i wand to send tem from
>  > my old page to the new one...
> 
> <META HTTP-EQUIV=Refresh CONTENT="4;http://www.domain.com/page.html">

Works fine for people.

Theory says you should send a 301 "Moved Permanently" HTTP status code
which ought to update search engines, or otherwise automated agents
will continue to think your old page is OK.

However, if you issue a 301 status with a text page, most browsers
will jump immediately to the new location without so much as a flicker.

(I cc.d this to robots & HTTP because it also relates to those fields,
and I'd like to know myself ...)

Anyone else care to comment on the best way to move a Web page


1. HTTP-EQUIV=Refresh   for a few weeks, then 404  (delete page),
  and re-submit to the search engines manually.
2. 301 "moved permanently" until the end of time
2a. 301 "moved permanently" for a while, then 404

Various questions: 
Do existing robots follow a "refresh" ? (They would follow a regular link,
in any case) (mine does)

Do existing robots update a URL on encountering a 301 status ? (mine is
supposed to, but that bit's not been extensively checked ...)

Does anyone run a site checker/updater (like the original MOMspider) which
uses 301 (or 302) to fix links ?

Is there a need for some convention on a bit of HTML to satisfy both
agents and people that a page has permanently moved ?

I tried sending status 302 with a Refresh header; it works with Netscape
3.0 but not perhaps older browsers, and is probably illegal anyway ...
(though I seem to remember that 300 causes some problems for old
browsers, as used in one (all?) of the TCN versions)


http://vancouver-webpages.com/pagemove.html


Andrew Daviel
Vancouver Webpages; TRIUMF

Received on Sunday, 6 July 1997 16:22:12 UTC