Downloads

[Lump]

Hi everybody,
I need help! I just got some free web space from Geo Atrocities. All I
want is to put up a few files for people to download. All
GeoAtropcities wants is for me to put up web pages they can diaplay
their ads on, so there's a conflict of interests here!
My file, instructions.zip, is in the free web space. My means of
downloading the file is a simple anchor tag (in another webspace
elsewhere) that goes something like:
Download instructions <A href=geoatrocities/instructions.zip>here</A>.
Forget the details of the URL, it's just there for illustration.
If you left-click on the link, GeoAtrocities traps the request in some
way and displays a message saying the web site is unavailable. If you
right-click on the link and choose 'Save Target to Disk...' from the
context menu, you can indeed download the file.

It works (so long as you right-click), but having the GeoAtrocities
'piss off' message appear when you left-click is unprofessional to say
the least. Is there any way to use an anchor, or any other tag, so
that the default is to save the target rather than view it? Or any
other way to fix the problem?

It seems to me that clicking 'Save Target As...' on the context menu
must cause some http request or other to be sent, so I uppose my
question boils down to whether it is possible to generate the same
http from left-clicking a link on a web page.

Many thanks,
Paul C

 

[Neal]

Hi everybody,
I need help! I just got some free web space from Geo Atrocities...
It seems to me that clicking 'Save Target As...' on the context menu
must cause some http request or other to be sent, so I uppose my
question boils down to whether it is possible to generate the same
http from left-clicking a link on a web page.

Paul,

You got what you paid for. Instruct your visitors to right-click.

 

[Jukka K. Korpela]

Instruct your visitors to right-click.

Why? It would just confuse all those people who are using a left-handed
mouse, or no mouse at all.

This reminds me of the "hit control+D to bookmark!" bogosity that was
common in the childhood of the Web. Hitting control+D could cause just
anything, including (to mention a real example) terminating the browser.

So unless you _know_ what "right-click" does on _each_ user's browser,
it's better to avoid giving (unconditional) guidance on using it.

 

[Neal]

Why? It would just confuse all those people who are using a left-handed
mouse, or no mouse at all.

This reminds me of the "hit control+D to bookmark!" bogosity that was
common in the childhood of the Web. Hitting control+D could cause just
anything, including (to mention a real example) terminating the browser.

So unless you _know_ what "right-click" does on _each_ user's browser,
it's better to avoid giving (unconditional) guidance on using it.

I *could* argue that left handed people already know to reverse clicking
instructions if their mouse is set up in reverse, and that people who are
not using a mouse at all are likelier than most to know how to deal with
this request with no mouse, but ultimately, there will be some who fit
your description who may be confused.

My point is simply that in a free webspace environment, you are kinda
stuck with what you get. Because of this, you are forced to put undue
burden on your users - and some form of instruction would be warranted.

However, it could be worded in a different manner than I quicly suggested
to be more applicable - i.e. "If these links do not function as expected,
try opening them in a new browser window" or something to that effect.

How would *you* solve this problem? (Without switching to a new webspace
provider, of course?)

 

[Jukka K. Korpela]

I *could* argue that left handed people already know to reverse
clicking instructions if their mouse is set up in reverse,

While you are at it, you could also argue that right handed people either
know how to right click or will not understand a casual advice on it on a
casual Web page. If a user needs basic information about using his
browser, the odds are that you can't help him with your page unless you
devote the page to that purpose and try and make it very clear _which_
browser you are talking about.

How would *you* solve this problem?

I don't know what the OP's problem is. No useful URL was included, just a
relative URL (and probably a fake one), with the base URL unspecified.

Usually prefer knowing the problem before considering what to suggest as
a solution.

OK, OK, engaging the crystal ball... I see that the "free"*) webspace
provider has a misconfigured server that sends a wrong Content-Type for a
file with the suffix .zip, probably text/plain or something. (This isn't
what the description of the symptoms said, but we know the description
was...er... not quite to the point anyway.) Then the simple solution is
to make the material available in a non-zipped format. Whether this
raises some new problems would remain to be seen, but it would be very
odd if didn't work at least for plain text and for HTML documents.

*)TANSTAAFL.

 

[Sid Ismail]

: Hi everybody,
: I need help! I just got some free web space from Geo Atrocities. All I
: want is to put up a few files for people to download. All
: GeoAtropcities wants is for me to put up web pages they can diaplay
: their ads on, so there's a conflict of interests here!


It's their site, and its free. There is no conflict - IF you were a paying
client, then you're paying for the "rights" you expect.

Sid