Re: /index.htm reload?

Perhaps a former ISP Admin point of view would shed a tad more light on the
subject? The reason index.html or .htm or .asp or whatever page loads simply
by typing in the www.dot.com address is that there is a setting in all web
servers to load any of a list of user-defined pages when someone just types
in your domain name. You can add whatever file names you like; most IIS
servers have default.htm and default.asp as default pages. It isn't just
when you type in a domain name, either... if you have a document default,
any folder you recurse into will also do the same thing. Example: if
index.php3 is on your default page list, opening a domain like
www.dot.com/users/personal/pages/bob/the/wonder/llama/ will bring up Bob the
Wonder Llama's index.php3 file if it is in his folder. This is a function
strictly of the web server, so you can reference other pages this way in
your HTML code without fear of it not working in some browsers (although
it's always a good idea to add the trailing slash /). Hope that helps a
bit!!!

Nathan


----- Original Message -----
From: 2Nerotik
To: hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org
Cc: erwmag(at)email.com
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2000 1:52 AM
Subject: Re: /index.htm reload?


<FLAME SUIT ON> ...oh what the heck I'm feeling omnipotent... <FLAME SUIT
OFF>

If you can't answer a simple question why confuse the poor guy to death.

These are NOT distinct URLs:
erwnerve.tripod.com vs erwnerve.tripod.com/index.htm

go ahead and try it on any wedsite... type in just the
name without index.htm and then add in index.htm... hmmm
nope no difference to me...

Yes these ARE distinct URLs BUT this was NOT the question:
erwnerve.tripod.com/index.htm
erwnerve.tripod.com/INDEX.htm
erwnerve.tripod.com/INDEX.HTM

At 08:43 PM 13/03/2000 -0600, Harold A. Driscoll wrote:
>At 03:01 13-03-00 , Erwin wrote:
> >does the browser treat "erwnerve.tripod.com" same as
> >"erwnerve.tripod.com/index.htm" (and therefore loads
> >it from cache) or does it reload it?
>
>They are distinct URLs, and the browser has no way of knowing that they are

Nope... ever wonder why all those ads you see around advertise
www.thissite.com
and not www.thissite.com/index.htm... because they don't NEED to.

>the same. A browser can't even presume common practices such as the use of
>index.html, and certainly not variations on the theme such as you describe.

variations on the theme... uh did we get the same email question...

> >If they're not treated as same, any tips on how I can work around it?
>
>Use the same path and name in all cases, either explicit or default.

hmmm finally some good advice... of course then we're lost again below...

>Personally, generally I don't care, since the entry page ideally is
>relatively short, but it might distort the presentation of
>visited/not-visited anchor links.

hmmm funny I don't remember the question that gets the following
answer... ahhh what the heck... let him waste our bandwidth...

>As far as local work, I'd suggest anybody creating any Web pages, and
>certainly anything more than a few pages of photos of the grandchildren, to
>run a local Web server. I'd recommend Apache for either UN*X or Windows
>(and defer to other for Mac).
>
>Apache is easy to install and administer, efficient of system resources,
>and full-feature in the ways you need it. (This in contrast with PWS, which
>inspires flurries of befuddled queries to various discussion lists, has a
>bloatware view of resources, and is a very-much crippled version of IIS.)

Please note any sarcasm expressed or implied was purely on purpose and not
coincidental.

.oOo.
|| .oOo.
|| Deja moo: "I swear that's the exact same cow
||                      we passed about six miles ago."
||
||  Addicted 2 Swing ---> http://www.nisa.net/~2nerotik/
||  Fontaholic ? ---> http://www.fontsanon.com
||  HTML Writers Guild ---> http://www.hwg.org

HWG hwg-techniques mailing list archives, maintained by Webmasters @ IWA