Help! I've surfed and I can't get out!
Aug 20 '00
OK, tell me this hasn’t happened to you. You run across a link while you’re browsing that catches your eye. It looks like it might have some stuff that might interest you so you click and surf. You’ve checked all the site’s info and your legs are tired (even though you’re sitting!) and you just want to go back from whence you came.
But…what’s this? You’re trapped! This cutesy site you diverted to won’t let you go back via your BACK button. You can’t find any of your previous sites in the history bar. This pain-in-the-mouse Internet site has got you by the browser and won’t let go! What’s a surfer dude to do? In a panic you just do what any sane surfer would do, you say a few choice words about the site creator’s mother’s choice of shoes and you close out your browser and restart it. What a pain!
Morally speaking, I don’t understand why anyone has to do this. I would think that site admins would get so many complaints on this kind of activity that the end effect would be detrimental to the life expectancy of the site. But technically, I know how some of these guys pull this trick, and there is an easy way to avoid this trap all together.
Quite often sites such as these will almost instantly redirect you to a secondary look-a-like site that will begin loading the site information. This redirection can work so fast that you aren’t even aware it happened. So what happens when you hit your BACK button? Seemingly nothing! The secondary site sends you back to the initial site, which instantly redirects you to the secondary site. Now, isn’t that special?
There’s nothing wrong with your BACK button. This two-screen loop is actually a page design problem (or in some cases, a strategy.) If somehow you were able to hit your BACK button a second time fast enough to beat the redirect sequence, you could, theoretically get back to where you came from. But you would need superhuman six million dollar man reflexes to accomplish the task. Rots of Ruck!
The easy way to avoid this problem is to RIGHT CLICK on links and then select “open in a new window.” This will allow you to view the new link in a new browser window. Your original site will still be open in the background in the primary browser window.
When you’re ready to go back home just close the link’s browser window and you are right back looking at your original site. No muss, no fuss. This way you can’t get locked inside a site, feeling lost and not knowing how to get back home. Hansel and Gretel should have been so lucky.
That's my epinion. Mahalo for stopping by.
Afterthought: Our friendly Epinions neighbor ryanf86_2000 has also kicked in this helpful tidbit. In Internet Explorer and Netscape, he has found that you you can right click on your BACK button to see a list of recent sites visited. This might also help to get you out of one of these pesky sites.
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Epinions.com ID:
Schinjay
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Member: Steve Schindler
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Reviews written: 37
Trusted by: 57 members
About Me:
Steve Schindler writes his informative and humorous "Schindler's Cyber List" for epinions.com.
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