[thelist] Link Masking?

Rob Smith rob.smith at THERMON.com
Tue Nov 23 08:16:52 CST 2004


Hey,

One of my clients came to me last night asking about link masking. Either I
don't get out much, or this such a new topic, that there are "10 programs
already out on link masking, It has to be real.", my client. She's very
protective of her affiliate links and doesn't want anyone to steal them.

Now, what I envision "Link Masking" as is:
<a href="#" onMouseOver="window.status='Hello World'">Link</a>
...thus hiding the link in the status bar in some cases

What she's afraid of is her competitors taking her link, making their link
look like hers, and before the visitor goes off to the affiliate site, it
gets switched. 

In another related story, there is a Bug in Internet Explorer that allows
you to simulate this:

<a href="http://www.microsoft.com">
 <table>
  <tr>
   <td>
    <a href="http://www.google.com">  <--- Bait and Switch here
     Microsoft 
   </td>
  </tr>
 </table> 
</a>

The link says Microsoft, the status bar shows Microsoft. But, in IE, it goes
to Google. Firefox and NS both show Google as the end destination in the
status bar.

So what's up with Link Masking?

Rob Smith


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