Web Link Checker

I used the W3C Link Checker at
http://webtools.ca.boeing.com/cgi/validator/httpd/cgi-bin/checklink.pl to
check our Structures web site.

I entered erie.ds.boeing.com as the URL and checked the summary and
recursive boxes.  

Most of the "broken" links, when clicked on, brought up a valid page, so I
don't know why they were flagged broken.

Also, links that used a valid Blues URL to bring up information on an
employee were all flagged as broken, even though they worked OK.

Because of the 150 document limit, the checker is of limited use for our
larger site.  Entering a more detailed path to search fewer documents, such
as erie.ds.boeing.com/struct/ produced an Error: 403 Forbidden.   But going
"back", I found the Link Checker page had been reset, clearing the URL and
all boxes.  It would be helpful if this information could be checked and
changed as necessary for another check.

The output is also cumbersome to use.  There are some good link checkers
available on the market.  The Web Link Validator at
http://www.relsoftware.com/ has an excellent user interface and output.
After the analysis, the user can click on one of several sub categories;
Broken Links will display all the broken links in a separate window.
Clicking on a broken link displays detail information, including parents, in
another window.  You can also click on "Pages with broken links" to display
only those pages with broken links;  clicking on one of those URLs will
allow the display of its children, with broken links in red.  The site
license for unlimited links is $7000
(http://www.relsoftware.com/wlv/purchase/), which is a bargain compared to
the cost of developing a comparable capability in-house.

Thanks for reviewing this feedback.

Mike Smith
Michael K. Smith
Structures Technology, Computing Support
9-101.2, Col E-16
(206) 662-2030
M/C 4E-92
michael.k.smith2@boeing.com