RE: [Q] META "Refresh" deprecated ?

On Tue, 22 Feb 2000 Roy.Gardiner@natwest.com wrote:

> > (For instance, Opera allows the Refresh idiocy to be disabled.)

> I use the 'idiocy' to provide a standard, simple, here-I-am
> lead-in to the site. 

Ah yes, the "splash screen" concept.

> I would like to ask (genuine interest, not rhetorical smartass),
> what's wrong with what I do and thus with Refresh? What should I
> do instead?

You've already seen the problems listed.  Beyond those, the problem
with a splash screen is that it forgets that there is really no such
thing as a "lead-in" or "front door" to a "site".

The Web is a web.  URL-space is *flat*: you can go from anywhere to
anywhere, directly.  Don't each of the pages in your "site" have URLs?  
That's why I quote "site" - the word is meaningful to you in terms of
organization, but it is meaningless for the Web of which your pages
are *each an integral* part.  Consequently, the lead-in is just a
waste of everyone's time (and network resources, I might add.) 

> (PS apologies to Arjun who gets this twice because I forgot to
> read the To button before pressing Send and had to do it again).

That's another rant altogether...;)  (I dislike cc's, but I realize
that most mailreaders have only the 'reply to author' and 'reply to
all' options, neither of which is optimal for mailing lists.  I use
procmail to deal with the immediate problem.  The practice of cc-ing
public messages goes back to the days when connectivity was limited
and/or unreliable; today, it's strictly redundant and wasteful.)


Arjun

Received on Tuesday, 22 February 2000 09:21:50 UTC