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Thread: Accessibility of redirects
Number of posts in this thread: 7 (In chronological order)
From: Penny Roberts
Date: Tue, Mar 06 2007 8:40AM
Subject: Accessibility of redirects
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Hi all,
Last year our library's web site changed to a new address. A redirect
was put on the old home page that takes a user straight to the new home
page.
I've just discovered that the library guide has been reprinted with
five old URLs in it! Reprinting is not an option (too expensive) so I'm
going to have to put redirects on the five pages of the old site that
are mentioned in the guide.
Should the redirect go to the new home page or the page that directly
corresponds to the old destination?
Should it be instant or delayed?
If the redirect is delayed how long for?
What sort of wording is appropriate?
Thanks,
Penny
From: Derek Featherstone
Date: Tue, Mar 06 2007 10:40AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility of redirects
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On 3/6/07, Keith Parks wrote:
>How does this method [instant server-side redirects] affect the
browser's BACK button function?
It doesn't affect it at all, and that's one of the main reasons to use
it. If you use the server to do what it was designed to do, you
eliminate all sorts of problems such as the one you describe here:
>My problem with client-side instant (zero delay) redirects is that it
>can be nearly impossible for users to "back" past the redirect page
>(unless they use the drop-down History list, which I find few people
>seem to know about).
Cheers,
Derek.
--
Derek Featherstone = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
tel: +1 613-599-9784 1-866-932-4878 (toll-free in North America)
Web Development: http://www.furtherahead.com
Personal: http://www.boxofchocolates.ca
Web Standards: http://www.webstandards.org
From: Jared Smith
Date: Tue, Mar 06 2007 11:10AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility of redirects
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On 3/6/07, Penny Roberts < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Should the redirect go to the new home page or the page that directly
> corresponds to the old destination?
You'll likely get a number of diverse opinions on these questions, but
here's my opinion.
The pages should redirect to the page that directly corresponds with
the old destination. This should be done with a server-side redirect
that sends a permanent redirect message to the web browser and search
engines.
In Apache, it would be something like:
Redirect permanent /oldpath/oldfile.htm http://newserver.com/newpath/newfile.htm
More info on Apache redirects at
http://juicystudio.com/article/apache-http-status.php
There are other redirect codes that can be used if the file is gone
permanently or has been replaced by something new.
> Should it be instant or delayed?
Instant. Why bother the user with an error message when they've done
nothing wrong? If you use the correct server redirects, it will be
totally seamless to the user and search engines will be updated with
the new location very quickly. As long as your redirects function well
into the future, even if the user has a page bookmarked they will not
see any problems. Unfortunately, browsers do not yet know to
automatically update URLs of bookmarks when the location has changed.
You can also do a Google search to find pages that link to your web
page and you could ask them to update their links to the correct URL.
Simply search for "link:www.yoursite.com/yourpage.htm". For instance,
http://www.google.com/search?q=link:webaim.org shows all of the pages
linking to our homepage.
> If the redirect is delayed how long for?
If you do choose to display a "This page has moved..." message, it
should display until the user chooses to go to the next page.
Automatically changing the page with javascript or a meta refresh is
certainly going to make the content less accessible to someone. Simply
display the correct URL as a link and allow them to activate it to
move on.
> What sort of wording is appropriate?
"This page has moved. Please update your bookmarks or any links to
this page. The new address is http://....." or something similar. But
again, I think this does little more than burden the user with an
error they have no control over - a server-side, permanent, instant
redirect has very few downsides.
Jared Smith
WebAIM.org
From: Keith Parks
Date: Tue, Mar 06 2007 11:20AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility of redirects
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On Mar 6, 2007, at 9:11 AM, Jared Smith wrote:
> here's my opinion.
> The pages should redirect to the page that directly corresponds with
> the old destination. This should be done with a server-side redirect
> that sends a permanent redirect message to the web browser and search
> engines.
>
>> Should it be instant or delayed?
>
> Instant. Why bother the user with an error message when they've done
> nothing wrong? If you use the correct server redirects, it will be
> totally seamless to the user and search engines will be updated with
> the new location very quickly.
How does this method affect the browser's BACK button function?
My problem with client-side instant (zero delay) redirects is that it
can be nearly impossible for users to "back" past the redirect page
(unless they use the drop-down History list, which I find few people
seem to know about).
******************************
Keith Parks
Graphic Designer/Web Designer
Student Affairs Communications Services
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182-7444
(619) 594-1046
mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
http://www.sdsu.edu
http://www.sa.sdsu.edu/communications
----------------------------------------------------------
World Peace through Cascading Style Sheets.
From: tedd
Date: Tue, Mar 06 2007 12:10PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility of redirects
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At 3:32 PM +0000 3/6/07, Penny Roberts wrote:
>Hi all,
> Last year our library's web site changed to a new address. A redirect
>was put on the old home page that takes a user straight to the new home
>page.
> I've just discovered that the library guide has been reprinted with
>five old URLs in it! Reprinting is not an option (too expensive) so I'm
>going to have to put redirects on the five pages of the old site that
>are mentioned in the guide.
> Should the redirect go to the new home page or the page that directly
>corresponds to the old destination?
> Should it be instant or delayed?
> If the redirect is delayed how long for?
> What sort of wording is appropriate?
>
>Thanks,
>Penny
Penny:
<opinion>
If the old url's were not supposed to be printed in the new library
guide, then put in an immediate redirect to the new home page without
explanation and forget about it. The point is to get people to the
site and not to expound on problems with the reprint.
</opinion>
Cheers,
tedd
--
-------
http://sperling.com http://ancientstones.com http://earthstones.com
From: Tim Beadle
Date: Wed, Mar 07 2007 1:50AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility of redirects
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On 06/03/07, tedd < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> <opinion>
> If the old url's were not supposed to be printed in the new library
> guide, then put in an immediate redirect to the new home page without
> explanation and forget about it. The point is to get people to the
> site and not to expound on problems with the reprint.
> </opinion>
Except they're old *style* URLs, rather than old, out-of-date URLs.
They should definitely redirect to the new corresponding pages.
Tim
From: Penny Roberts
Date: Wed, Mar 07 2007 3:30AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility of redirects
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Jared Smith wrote:
> On 3/6/07, Penny Roberts < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>> Should the redirect go to the new home page or the page that directly
>> corresponds to the old destination?
>
> You'll likely get a number of diverse opinions on these questions, but
> here's my opinion.
> The pages should redirect to the page that directly corresponds with
> the old destination. This should be done with a server-side redirect
> that sends a permanent redirect message to the web browser and search
> engines.
Sadly that isn't within my purview: I'm a teeny tiny fish in a very big
pond. The only person that I have access to is the guy that set up the
redirect on the home page... and he just used a meta-refresh :-(
Penny