Re: XHTML?

[Victor Engmark]

On 4/13/07, Davi Leal <address@hidden> wrote:

Victor Engmark wrote:
> > >  - No more @target - It's only necessary when using frames.
> >
> > It is true GNU Herds does not use frames. However, we added @target to
> > <a> to avoid others sites to embed GNU Herds into one of _their_ frames.
>
> Is that likely? I've not seen such a site for... I think a couple years. If
> they're that keen on stealing our search status, they're sure to be able to
> remove the @targets. It's quite a few bytes extra, in the aggregate.

We have added too the below code to
  Layer-0__Site_entry_point/templates/web_page.tpl

It will not have effect if the browser has _javascript_ disabled. But, as
@target, it is just another addition to the set of dissuasive measures.


  <script type="text/_javascript_">
    if (parent.location != this.location)
    {
      // I hate getting stuck in someone else's frames
      parent.location = this.location;
    }
  </script>

I personally do not think we should remove the @target. What we lost leaving
it?, Just a few bytes. Note that the above _javascript_ code has lot of bytes
too, but it is needed if we want to add that kind of measures. Want we add
that kind of measures, spending just 50 or 100 bytes more?.

Here's a small calculation:
' target="_top"' is 14 bytes, per link, per page load. On the front page, we have 23 links with @target, that's 322 bytes.
The script you sent is 194 bytes (and a little extra calculation), per page load. The byte count could be made smaller by including the code as an external file.

AFAIK, it's not enough for an impostor / leech to just include our site in a frame or iframe. S/he'll have to copy the markup, otherwise it won't be indexed by search engines, and the bad guy won't get visitors. After that, it's five minutes with regular expressions to remove any _javascript_. I believe it's wasted bytes, but I don't know how these people work. It's up to the group, anyway.

Here are some other ways to hinder some abuse without using more bandwidth:

• Prevent image hotlinking
• Exclude bad robots / spiders
• Mandate login before showing the "meat" of the site. I don't recommend this - Guy Kawasaki has listed mandatory registration as a barrier to adoption, and it also hinders proper indexing by legitimate search engines. Just listing it for completeness.
• Use absolute links. I don't recommend this either, since it's trivial to search + replace, and it's a lot of bytes in aggregate.

-- 
Victor Engmark
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur - What is said in Latin, sounds profound