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JavaScript

You can include JavaScript code in your HTML document to redirect people to pages that have moved or different pages based on browser type.

To redirect users to a new page, add the following code to the <HEAD> section in your HTML document:

<HEAD>
<SCRIPT language="JavaScript">
<!--
window.location="URL";
//-->
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
where

<SCRIPT language="JavaScript"> identifies the following code as JavaScript,
put the closing </SCRIPT> tag before the
closing </HEAD> tag.
<!-- code is enclosed in the comment tag so that it will be
ignored by older browsers and browsers with JavaScript
disabled, put the closing //--> tag before the closing
</SCRIPT> tag.
window.location window is the object and location is its property; sets the
URL of the current window to the URL you specified.
URL is the URL that should be loaded when this page is
accessed.

For example,

<HEAD>
<SCRIPT language="JavaScript">
<!--
window.location="http://www.utexas.edu/its/";
//-->
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
tells the browser to load the page, http://www.utexas.edu/its/, automatically.

The example below detects browser type and redirects viewers to different pages based on their browser:

<HEAD>
<SCRIPT language="JavaScript">
<!--
if (navigator.appName=="Netscape")
   {
   window.location="netscape_index.html";
   }
else if (navigator.appName=="Microsoft Internet Explorer")
   {
   window.location="ie_index.html";
   }
else
   {
   window.location="other_index.html";
   }
//-->
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
where

navigator.appName navigator is the object and appName is its property; appName is the name of the browser, for example, Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Advantages

  • Control over the redirection without contacting the system administrator.
  • Correct URL address appears in the browser's location box.
  • New location can be on a different server.

Disadvantages

  • Users can turn off JavaScript capabilities in their browser.
  • Browser back button doesn't work.

More Information

 



  Updated 2003 July 29
  Comments to TeamWeb