I have talked to a few browser developers about this issue and
would also like to get the opinions of this list. The question
is - what should be the known URL for any web node?
For example, if a node has this base statement:
<base href="http://www.hp.com/go/AccessGuide">
while the actual file location for this node is:
{htdocs}/AccessGuide/AccessGuide.html.
and most readers access this node via an imagemap redirect:
"rect /AccessGuide/AccessGuide.html 56,364 162,393"
When the node is reached, what location should browsers display
to the user and use in hot lists?
http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/imagemap/ahp/ahpAccessHP.map?106,379
or
http://www.hp.com/AccessGuide/AccessGuide.html
or
http://www.hp.com/go/AccessGuide
I have seen browsers use all three forms:
how I got there,
where I was redirected,
what the node says it is.
This is real important to me (and I suspect the web community) because
we wish to help users maintain their links to our material. Clearly,
the first form is the hardest for me to maintain. All URLS in the
document are server relative so there is no issue about relative paths.
It seems to me that the known location for a node should be under
control of the server/document author not the browser/reader. If
not, how is a developer going to help readers maintain links to
the developer's site?
Regards,
Dave Hollander