page". The links on the site actually got to a single "exit" page
something like this:
SiteExit.cfm?ExitName=Fidelity
Where ExitName is the "code name" of the link we'll be forwarding them
to. You could use a numeric DB ID as well, but we find this more
understandable for maintenance. One the other hand if you have tons of
links coming up with meaningful code names could become a chore. The
database contains a numeric key, the full URL and a unique codename for
each external link.
There are several benefits to this kind of linking:
1) As you've already said checking link existence is much simpler.
2) You only need to change one place when an external link changes - no
matter how many times it's used.
3) You can take action on the exit page. Some people display "you are
now leaving our page and we're not responsible" disclaimer, for example.
Also you can track in a metrics application exactly what links were used
to leave the site. This can be especially useful for campaigns or
banners where you want to track click-throughs.
The major negative we see using this is that we have a pretty large team
(well- not too large, around 10) and its sometimes hard to get people on
a deadline to take the extra step of adding a new URL and using the
exitpage. we periodically have to search the site for external links and
fix them.
Jim Davis
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2003 3:09 PM
To: CF-Talk
Subject: link-list with coldfusion
Hi list,
a customer
of mine wants to
get implemented a
DB-driven link-list with
which he can check if
an URL is accessible, gets
a 404 error or the server is
not available.
Did s.o. already have done this
with ColdFusion and if, how did
he approach this issue ?
Thanks for ideas.
Uwe
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