A broken link preventer

[Craig Cockburn]

I have a tool which tells me the number of times that visitors attempt
to access a link from my site to an external site and what the response
code received was. In the event of the remote site returning an error
code, they are not sent to the remote site - why bother, it wouldn't
work!

Since I have over 1000 external links, this allows me to locate the
broken links that people see the most often and fix those first.
Conventional link checkers offer a complimentary service and detect
instances of broken links rather than instances of frequency seen.


The output from the program can generate reports based on time, link
accessed, page on my site where the link occurred and so on.

This means that on my site, I now have much better control over what
happens if the visitor would see a 404 on an external link and I can
offer them more options.

Try it out here
http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/2_2.html

Whilst accepting that broken links are a generally bad thing, this tool
at least helps me to manage them more effectively.

comments, feedback welcome. This is an early release so there may be
bugs but I hope not

 

[Chris Beall]

I have a tool which tells me the number of times that visitors attempt
to access a link from my site to an external site and what the response
code received was. In the event of the remote site returning an error
code, they are not sent to the remote site - why bother, it wouldn't work!

Since I have over 1000 external links, this allows me to locate the
broken links that people see the most often and fix those first.
Conventional link checkers offer a complimentary service and detect
instances of broken links rather than instances of frequency seen.


The output from the program can generate reports based on time, link
accessed, page on my site where the link occurred and so on.

This means that on my site, I now have much better control over what
happens if the visitor would see a 404 on an external link and I can
offer them more options.

Try it out here
http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/2_2.html

Whilst accepting that broken links are a generally bad thing, this tool
at least helps me to manage them more effectively.

comments, feedback welcome. This is an early release so there may be
bugs but I hope not

Craig,

Seems to work here and the suggestions provided to the user are helpful.

1. Rather than depend on UCSD, I'd suggest you provide your own
explanation of the error, showing only the one appropriate to the
immediate situation.

2. I used Netscape 7.1. When I see a list of links like those in your
example, I tend to keep the page with the list open in one tab, then
right click on each link I'm interested in and select "Open in new tab"
from the resulting popup menu. But something in your code prevents that
option (and several others) from appearing in the popup.

Chris Beall

 

[Krustov]

<alt.www.webmaster , Craig Cockburn , (e-mail address removed)>
<[email protected]>

This means that on my site, I now have much better control over what
happens if the visitor would see a 404 on an external link and I can
offer them more options.

TMK if a website uses custom 404 pages then it wont show up as a broken
link .

 

[Steve Pugh]

TMK if a website uses custom 404 pages then it wont show up as a broken
link .

Sometimes yes. But well configured web servers return 404 headers even
when displaying a custom 404 page. There are, of course, many badly
configured web servers out there.

Steve

 

[Philip Ronan]

Sometimes yes. But well configured web servers return 404 headers even
when displaying a custom 404 page. There are, of course, many badly
configured web servers out there.

I think the most common mistake is to use a fully qualified URL in the
ErrorDocument directive. For example:

ErrorDocument 404 http://example.com/error-docs/not_found.html

will cause the server to issue a 301 redirect header to the error page when
it can't find the requested document. The eror page will then be served with
a '200 OK" header.

It's all explained in the Apache documentation.

 

[Matt Probert]

I think the most common mistake is to use a fully qualified URL in the
ErrorDocument directive. For example:

ErrorDocument 404 http://example.com/error-docs/not_found.html

will cause the server to issue a 301 redirect header to the error page when
it can't find the requested document. The eror page will then be served with
a '200 OK" header.

It's all explained in the Apache documentation.

Explained? That's an interesting term to use with regard to the Apache
documentation! I find the Apache documentation to be slightly less
intelligible than if it were written in Ancient Greek.

And as this is being widely cross-posted, perhaps a challenge could go
out for another techinal author - one who can decipher the Apache
documentation - to produce a version which can be widely understood.

Matt

 

[Philip Ronan]

Explained? That's an interesting term to use with regard to the Apache
documentation! I find the Apache documentation to be slightly less
intelligible than if it were written in Ancient Greek.

This seems perfectly clear to me:

<http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/core.html#errordocument>

Where's the problem?

 

[Nick Kew]

Explained? That's an interesting term to use with regard to the Apache
documentation! I find the Apache documentation to be slightly less
intelligible than if it were written in Ancient Greek.

OK, here's a simple challenge. Find another complex product with
documentation that's more readable than Apache's, while not being
misleading or downright wrong.

 

[Jerry Stuckle]

OK, here's a simple challenge. Find another complex product with
documentation that's more readable than Apache's, while not being
misleading or downright wrong.

MySQL
Microsoft's Visual Studio products
AutoCad
Websphere
Exim

To start.

Apache's documentation is some of the worst I've ever seen.

--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
(e-mail address removed)
==================

 

[Nick Kew]

MySQL

Hmmm, that's a very readable manual, too.

Microsoft's Visual Studio products

You must be joking! Where do you find anything that isn't just a
longwinded explanation of how to use GUI menus? It certainly
never told me anything that wasn't bleedin' obvious.

Unlike back in the 1980s, when a microsoft manual was somewhat
helpful in learning C.

AutoCad

never used it.

Websphere

Put off even looking by the webpages and ambiguous license
(not sure if that's changed since IBM started to get more
serious about opensource).

Exim

Well, I chose postfix in preference when I last changed MTA,
and find postfix's documentation much harder than Apache's -
though nevertheless adequately workable.

To start.

Apache's documentation is some of the worst I've ever seen.

How so? Instead of whinging, how about some constructive criticism
that might offer some ideas for improving it?

 

[Jerry Stuckle]

Hmmm, that's a very readable manual, too.



You must be joking! Where do you find anything that isn't just a
longwinded explanation of how to use GUI menus? It certainly
never told me anything that wasn't bleedin' obvious.

Unlike back in the 1980s, when a microsoft manual was somewhat
helpful in learning C.



never used it.



Put off even looking by the webpages and ambiguous license
(not sure if that's changed since IBM started to get more
serious about opensource).



Well, I chose postfix in preference when I last changed MTA,
and find postfix's documentation much harder than Apache's -
though nevertheless adequately workable.


How so? Instead of whinging, how about some constructive criticism
that might offer some ideas for improving it?

Let's see...

More examples on how to do things. More information on how different
commands interrelate. How to effectively use .htaccess (or place those
commands in your httpd.conf file if you have access to it).

And how about some developer documentation? There isn't anything other
than an old Apache 1.x book mainly written for Perl with C as a second
thought.

If the documentation is so good, why are there so many messages on
usenet by people trying to figure out how to do things?

--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
(e-mail address removed)
==================

 

[Jerry Stuckle]

Hmmm, that's a very readable manual, too.



You must be joking! Where do you find anything that isn't just a
longwinded explanation of how to use GUI menus? It certainly
never told me anything that wasn't bleedin' obvious.

Unlike back in the 1980s, when a microsoft manual was somewhat
helpful in learning C.



never used it.



Put off even looking by the webpages and ambiguous license
(not sure if that's changed since IBM started to get more
serious about opensource).



Well, I chose postfix in preference when I last changed MTA,
and find postfix's documentation much harder than Apache's -
though nevertheless adequately workable.


How so? Instead of whinging, how about some constructive criticism
that might offer some ideas for improving it?

Oh, and yes, I've found the Visual C++ documentation to be much better
than Apache's. I've taught a lot of classes in it, and by the end of
the week (they're one-week corporate classes) the students know enough
to get good information from the help files.

Sure, there's a lot on how to use the IDE. But there's a huge amount on
the Microsoft Foundation Classes, also - and it's very well organized.

Not to say I'm fond of MFC - I don't think its a great OO
implementation. But it's workable and well documented (if you load the
correct help files).


--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
(e-mail address removed)
==================

 

[Craig Cockburn]

OK, here's a simple challenge. Find another complex product with
documentation that's more readable than Apache's, while not being
misleading or downright wrong.

This is all very well but back at the base article, how about some
feedback on my broken link preventer?

 

[William Tasso]

Writing in
news:alt.www.webmaster,alt.html,comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html,comp.software.testing
From the safety of the Silicon Glen - Scotland's Internet cafeteria

...
This is all very well but back at the base article, how about some
feedback on my broken link preventer?

Welcome to usenet

 

[Nick Kew]

Jerry Stuckle wrote:

And how about some developer documentation? There isn't anything other
than an old Apache 1.x book mainly written for Perl with C as a second
thought.

Yep, that's a gap. Wait for the new book in the new year
Meanwhile, some people find www.apachetutor.org helpful.

If the documentation is so good, why are there so many messages on
usenet by people trying to figure out how to do things?

For every person asking on usenet, there are a million just getting
on with it. Bear in mind, Apache is a product with three times
Microsoft's market share, and an altogether more helpful community
standing behind it. Of course there are all kinds of users, from
the expert, through the newbie capable of reading TFM, to the no-hoper.

 

[Leonard Blaisdell]

For every person asking on usenet, there are a million just getting
on with it. Bear in mind, Apache is a product with three times
Microsoft's market share, and an altogether more helpful community
standing behind it. Of course there are all kinds of users, from
the expert, through the newbie capable of reading TFM, to the no-hoper.

Plus, I've never found a more helpful config file than httpd.conf. A
whole lot is explained there directly.

leo

 

[William Tasso]

Writing in
news:alt.www.webmaster,alt.html,comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html,comp.software.testing
From the safety of the Studio H cafeteria

Nick Kew <[email protected]> wrote:

[apache web server]

Plus, I've never found a more helpful config file than httpd.conf. A
whole lot is explained there directly.

ok chaps, not quite sure what category of user you want to put me in - I
can take the knocks <g>, but while we have a collection of apache gurus
clustered around a hot steaming monitor, please indulge me while I repeat
an earlier question.

: Greetings One and All
:
: I have a domain hosted on linux/apache: http://example.com
:
: I use ProxyPass / http://192.168.1.111/
: and ProxyPassReverse / http://192.168.1.111/
:
: to deliver http://site2.example.com from a secondary server that is
: otherwise not connected to the internet.
:
: Is there a similar thingie I can use to deliver
: http://example.com/resource3 from that same secondary server?
:
: Thanks for reading - please let me know if I haven't made myself clear.

 

[Leonard Blaisdell]

ok chaps, not quite sure what category of user you want to put me in - I
can take the knocks <g>, but while we have a collection of apache gurus
clustered around a hot steaming monitor, please indulge me while I repeat
an earlier question.

: Greetings One and All
:
: I have a domain hosted on linux/apache: http://example.com
:
: I use ProxyPass / http://192.168.1.111/
: and ProxyPassReverse / http://192.168.1.111/
:
: to deliver http://site2.example.com from a secondary server that is
: otherwise not connected to the internet.
:
: Is there a similar thingie I can use to deliver
: http://example.com/resource3 from that same secondary server?
:
: Thanks for reading - please let me know if I haven't made myself clear.

I know far less than you do. I hope Mr. Kew replies. If not, consider
posting the question in <
leo

 

[Nick Kew]

I repeat an earlier question.

http://www.apacheweek.com/features/reverseproxies

 

[Craig Cockburn]

Thanks to all for the feedback here and via email on the broken link
preventer.

There is now a product page here for more information:
http://www.siliconglen.com/software/links.html

Having scratched my head for a bit to come up with a name for a program
that prevents broken links, I've called it The Broken Link Preventer

There is also a news release out today:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/12/prweb321865.htm

thanks for all the support, I have received a lot of praise for the tool
via email.

Craig