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Web_Surfing_404_Errors
| Web Surfing: 404 Errors
We've all received an error like the one shown below:
File not found - requested URL not found on this server
It's annoying, especially when you've searched for something and
found what looks like the perfect site. At least the description
exactly matches your needs. You click and boom, a 404 error
appears. Whoops. What happened to that perfect site?
There are several reasons why this error occurs. I guess the
thing that you need to remember is the internet is very fluid.
In fact, it changes constantly. Sometimes a site is changing
while you are looking at it. I can remember several times I was
examining a site and returned to a page that I had seen only
moments before and found it to be different! That can be very
unnerving, to say the least.
So what sometimes happens is a webmaster changes his site around
and obsoletes links. If he's a rank amateur, he'll break links
within his own site. This does happen sometimes, but any
webmaster worth his salt is constantly checking and rechecking
his site to be sure it works and works well. After all, the only
way to test something is to use it. And the only way to see if a
site really works is to surf it.
More often, someone has linked to a site and that site changes.
Since it can be difficult if not impossible to determine who has
linked to a site, links break.
Now, really good webmasters never ever delete a page on their
site. What they do is create redirect pages. Thus, if I have a
page called "barbi.htm" and I want to delete it, I will modify
the page to tell the visitor it no longer exists and redirect
him to another page in my site. This way I will not loose
traffic simply because I've deleted or renamed a page.
This constant checking of one's own web site will also catch
another common error: misspelling a hyperlink. When I create a
hyperlink, I either browse to the target using my web editor, or
I cut and paste the link directly out of Internet Explorer. I
never type the hyperlink in myself, which reduces the
possibility of error greatly!
Also common is the webmaster who does not understand that many
servers are case sensitive. This means that "Richard" is not the
same as "richard". You will see this sometimes if a webmaster
moves a site from a server which is not case sensitive
(VAX/OpenVMS) to one that is (Unix).
Sometimes a site simply moves to another host. This frequently
happens when a site outgrows it's host. I know of one site that
had to move several times because it's bandwidth demands became
huge! According to the webmaster this site was getting tens of
thousands of visitors every day, and all of them were
downloading tremendous amounts of pictures. He was booted off
one server with no notice and no backup and had to rebuild his
site from scratch! This kind of event will certainly cause 404
errors!
More rarely, a webmaster has been in the process of uploading
his site when his upload software crashed. This may leave broken
links for a short time until the problem is fixed.
Generally an ISP will provide, at least for a short time, a
redirect page to a new site. You will see this as a "My site has
moved. If you are not transported in 10 seconds click here"
message.
And of course some sites simply shut down. This is actually
getting more rare as it's often more expensive for an ISP to
delete old data than it is simply to prevent updates.
Search engines are notorious for their broken links. You have to
remember th at most search engines only examine web sites every
month or so (sometimes the delay is as long as six months).
Because of this, all of the above problems can occur, leaving
broken links.
About the author:
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets.
This website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your
internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge. Web Site Address:
http://www.internet-tips.net Weekly newsletter:
http://www.internet-tips.net/joinlist.htm Daily Tips:
mailto:internet-tips@GetResponse.com
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