Supporting Old URLs - Page 31
June 15, 2001
Whenever you reorganize a site or move files around for other
reasons, you have to make sure that the old URLs continue to
work. Old URLs should be kept functional for at least half a
year, and preferably for two years or more. In fact, people who
have changed site structures long ago still report hits on URLs
that are more than two years out of date.
Old URLs have a life of their own, living in users' bookmark
lists across the world, in printed documents and email messages,
and in other websites' outgoing references. Search engines often
take half a year to update their databases and flush out old
URLs.
|
Y2K URL
|
It is common practice to use two characters for the
year when referring to a date in a URL. I am guilty of doing so
myself. Such URLs may cause Year 2000 problems and should
probably be avoided in sites that use extensive amounts of
software on the back end.
|
The recommended way of dealing with old URLs is to set up a
redirect from your server, which will cause anybody who tries to
connect to the old URL to get redirected to the new URL instead.
The HTTP protocol specifies two different types of redirect
messages: code 301 and code 302. A 301 redirect indicates that
the page has moved permanently, and this is the preferred message
if this is in fact the case. A decent browser will automatically
update its bookmark list if it receives a 301 message upon trying
to retrieve a bookmarked page. Similarly, search engines should
automatically delete the old URL from their databases and replace
it with the new one when they get a 301. The 302 code indicates
that the page has moved temporarily and should be used only if
you want to revert to the original URL at a later date.
This image is the result of going to http://www.us.pc.
ibm.com/ibmhome, as specified in an IBM print ad that ran in the
November 1997 issue of BYTE magazine. Based on the way the visual
leveraged the company's redesigned online identity to achieve
integration between print and Web, I would guess that this ad was
effective at prodding potential customers into going to the URL
mentioned in the ad copy. Unfortunately, the web page the ad
pointed to had no relation to the product that was promoted in
the print advertisement. Most users probably gave up at this
point, resolving never to be tricked by another IBM ad again.
A determined user who is truly interested in the ad's fancy mouse
may search onward, guessing that it would be described under the
Products button. The above image is the result of clicking on
that button. At least we now get to see the mouse, even though
there is still no information about it. Clicking on the big mouse
photo has no effect: a bad design mistake because many users
click on featured objects. Some users may note that the graphic
for the "Options" button looks like the large mouse image. In
general, "options" is such a general term that it could mean
anything, so it's a poor choice for a navigation term.
This page has an inconsistent color scheme compared with the
previous two, so some users may fear that they had been led
astray to an unrelated part of the IBM site. A rushed or
superficial user would notice the large bike photo and
immediately hit the Back button to return to safe ground. A more
careful user would finally notice an option mentioning the mouse
and would click on it.
This page is http://www.us.pc.ibm.com/ibmhome/ scrollpoint, which
is the URL that should have been printed in the original print
ad. A user who typed the actual URL in the ad would not get the
desired mouse information until the fourth page. One nice aspect
of this page: The center image has an appropriate use of
animation to illustrate how one can use the mouse to manipulate a
window. Note, by the way, the inconsistent navigation
feedback in this series of screens. In the first two images, the
user's current location is indicated by flipping a triangle in
the navigation bar and making the button text yellow. In the
third image, no feedback is given to let the user know where the
current page fits into the navigation space (leaving users
stranded like this is the worst option). Finally, in this figure,
the current location is indicated by flipping the triangle (a
very subtle effect) without changing the color of the button
text.
Fully Specify URLs in HTML Code - Page 30
Designing Web Usability
User-Contributed Content - Page 32
|
