Subject: [CODE4LIB] Another way to do link maintenance

From: Eric Hellman <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:26:28 -0400

The thread on "Implementing OpenURL for simple web resources" inspired  
my to write an article on all the things that redirectors can be used  
for:
http://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2009/09/redirector-chain-mashup-design-pattern.html

Having thought about the original problem a bit, it strikes me that  
going a bit farther than what ross suggests could be a nice solution.

Have an onLoad javascript call your link maintenance database  and  
then rewrite the links in your page. This could be implemented in a  
JSON sort of way. (and no Openurl)

Here's why. There will be situations where you want to maintain the  
anchor text as well as the link, and this solution allows you to do  
it. Also, a well-crafted javascript will allow all the links to work  
(well, the good ones, at least) even if you link maintenace service  
goes down or disappears.

Eric

On Sep 15, 2009, at 11:47 AM, Ross Singer wrote:

> Oh yeah, one thing I left off --
>
> In Moodle, it would probably make sense to link to the URL in the  
> <a> tag:
> <a href="http://bbc.co.uk/">The Beeb!</a>
> but use a javascript onMouseDown action to rewrite the link to route
> through your funky link resolver path, a la Google.
>
> That way, the page works like any normal webpage, "right mouse
> click->Copy Link Location" gives the user the "real" URL to copy and
> paste, but normal behavior funnels through the link resolver.
>
> -Ross.

Eric Hellman
President, Gluejar, Inc.
41 Watchung Plaza, #132
Montclair, NJ 07042
USA

[email-masked]
http://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/