Skip's Pages document

Ill-humored Link Page

Lots of things can go wrong when linking to Web pages. The Internet, after all, is really just a pile of soon-obsolete hardware, buggy software, and data too voluminous to keep up-to-date. Nevermind that it needs electricity. Here I describe one common problem when a link to another page doesn't work--bad links--and what you can do to still get at that one damn page that is going to solve all your problems.

What exactly are bad links?
Most links have an associated destination address, the address of the page or other file that your browser requests when you click on the link. A bad link is one with a destination address that is not valid. The destination address may be invalid either because it was incorrect when the link was created, the location of the page or other file it points to has changed, or the file no longer exists.

A bad link usually results in an error message saying the page or other file you wanted wasn't found, permission is denied, or some other "can't go here" message. You've reached the server (the computer that sends your browser the pages and other files you want to see), but the file doesn't exist where your browser is saying it lives.

How to sidestep a bad link
If, as is often the case, the file has simply been renamed, or relocated on the same server, you still have a good chance of finding it. Most sites have a page or pages listing links to the other pages at the site, the top-most such page being the homepage. All you need to do is get the address of one of these link-list pages that is higher up in the site's hierarchy than the page you were looking for, and then navigate with your browser from that link-list page to the actual location of the page you want. Here's how:

1. Find out what the bad link's destination address is. To do this, try any of the following:

Check the "location" or "address" field on your browser. It will either contain the destination address, or the address of the error page. If the name of the file at the end of the destination address sounds like the page you were trying to go to, it probably is. If it ends with something like "not_found.html" it probably isn't.
Check the error page itself. Sometimes it has the bad destination address on it.
Check the bad link on the page you tried to link from. You can do this with Netscape Navigator for Windows or Internet Explorer for Windows by either:

Putting the mouse pointer over the link and checking your browser's status bar (it's generally at the bottom of your browser window unless it has been hidden). The status bar will usually indicate the destination address of the link. Sometimes a Web page will overwrite this information with something else. Note: Internet Explorer generally doesn't provide the full destination address in the status bar--although sometimes you can piece it together with what it does show.
Right-clicking the link and selecting the appropriate menu item. For Navigator, select "Copy link location." This copies the destination address to the Windows clipboard, from where you can paste it where you want. For Internet Explorer, select "Properties." This will give you a dialog box with the destination address.

2. Copy the bad destination address to the "location," "address," or "go to" field of your browser. It will look something like this:

http://www.boink.net/home/projects/pirate_radio/how_to.html

3. Delete everything from the end of the address up to the "/" and browse to the remaining address, which would now look like:

http://www.boink.net/home/projects/pirate_radio/

You can browse this shortened address by pressing the Return key.

4. If you get any links that look like they will take you to what you want, try them. You may find what you want. (Each time you try one that doesn't get you what you want, use your browser's BACK button to go back to the page you got from your shortened address.) If you don't get any links, or if none of them lead to gold, go back to step 3. (If you keep doing this, you'll probably eventually get to the home page, and hopefully find your page from there.)

Whether you find the file or not, it's a good idea to report the bad link to the owner of the page that contains it--unless the owner is some hate-monger or corporate leech. Include the corrected destination address if you can.

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