[thelist] Designing ErrorDocs

[j.d. welch]

On Tuesday, December 31, 2002, at 12:16  PM, Timothy J. Luoma wrote:

>> Also make time out (about 5 sec) and a redirect
>> to a page that is a *starting point* for the site.
>
> I wouldn't recommend an automatic redirect, and certainly not as
> quickly as
> 5 seconds for a page with tiny print in a light color font.
>
> That method takes a simple typo and shoves me somewhere that may not
> even
> closely resemble where I want to go.
>
> A simple link to "What's new" is sufficient.  I may be looking for
> something old.

yes, redirects should really only be used when you're _certain_ of
where the person wants to go, i.e. you've moved the content to a
different directory/server, and haven't altered it otherwise.  of
course, in that case, i vote for a header() vs <meta> redirect (or
better yet, make apache do it for you)...waiting around staring at a
blankish "hey, this isn't what you want!" page irritates the hell out
of me.

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