Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

InfoWorld's redesign: Linkrot heaven

Author:Lawrence Lee
Posted:6/19/1999; 8:40:52 PM
Topic:InfoWorld's redesign: Linkrot heaven
Msg #:7586
Prev/Next:7585 / 7587

Amazing! Putting aside all the comments about the new layout and design at Infoworld dot com, I can't believe that they decided to break all the inbound links to their stories.

archive.infoworld.com
It seems that along with their redesign, InfoWorld.Com couldn't spend the time to move their content into their new layout. So instead of finding links to stories at InfoWorld, we get 404s.

To find the old content, you have to find the archives and figure out that the content is replicated at archive.infoworld.com (of course, they make no mention of this in their 404 message).

Thousands and thousands of broken links
InfoWorld is a popular publication and I'm sure that other sites have made thousands of links to their site. Users that click a link to an archived InfoWorld story will only find a 404 that reads:

The requested object does not exist on this server. The link you followed is either outdated, inaccurate, or the server has been instructed not to let you have it.

How many will find what they are looking for at archive.infoworld.com? How many will hit the back button in frustration?

Solutions
InfoWorld can still do the right thing and work on a transparent connection to their archives.

Example
Infoworld
<http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?/features/990329webprojects.htm>

InfoWorld.Com
<http://archive.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?/features/990329webprojects.htm>

Reference
Useit.Com: From June 14, 1998; Fighting Linkrot

InfoWord: New Web site brings new information to readers. Sandy Reed, InfoWorld editor in Chief.








There are responses to this message:

This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:50:56 PM.

© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.