Re: LYNX-DEV Meta Refresh Tag in Lynx

[Foteos Macrides]

Duncan Hill <address@hidden> wrote:
>On Mon, 21 Jul 1997, Bill Churchman wrote:
>
>> We seem to be having difficulty with Lynx recognizing 
>> the meta tag 
>> 
>> <META HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" CONTENT="1; /~siast/default.htm">
>
>Lynx doesn't follow the REFRESH directive.  Instead, it will display
>the page with the REFRESH directive in it and allow you to manually
>follow the link (2.6 upwards I believe).  One of the reasons once
>stated was (I think), We want to see where we are going, and not be
>blindly bounced all over the place.  Or something similar.
>
>So, its not a bug per se, but more of a feature.  I'd suggest that you
>upgrade to 2.7.x, either ac or fotemods.  There are quite a few bug
>fixes, enhancements and features.

        The intend is to make sure that blind users will have as much
time as they need to feel or hear what's in the current document before
moving on to the next.  Also, for sighted users, the original intent of
Refresh (a.k.a. "server-side push") was for the equivalent of slide shows,
in which you set up the carousel to advance every minute or so. The "slide"
would have graphics which a GUI would inline.  With Lynx, if you're using
it with graphic "helper apps" and clickable_images toggled on, you need
time to activate those links, then come back and move on, at your own pace,
not that "pushed" on you by a server.

        The ability to use it with META tags as an alternative to real
redirection when you don't have access to the server's configuration
file for setting up real redirection came later, and is a "side-effect"
which has now become the predominant use for Refresh.

                                Fote

=========================================================================
 Foteos Macrides            Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research
 address@hidden         222 Maple Avenue, Shrewsbury, MA 01545
=========================================================================
;
; To UNSUBSCRIBE:  Send a mail message to address@hidden
;                  with "unsubscribe lynx-dev" (without the
;                  quotation marks) on a line by itself.
;