Not-So-Hot Links

Broken links to other sites won't be much help in annoying visitors who understand the fluid nature of the WWW. Sites move; servers change names and directory structures; webmasters forget to post "change of address" pages. You can't be expected to spend all your valuable time checking up on other people's websites.

But broken links to your own files and graphics, now they're a different story. Netscape displays a truly ugly little icon if a graphic reference is incorrect. Aesthetically sensitive people have been known to leave a site immediately one appears on their screen.

For document files, the best situation is to prominently display a link with an truly tantalizing title or description to a file that's not there. Whether it moved or never was doesn't matter. The annoyance is in the glorious
Error 404: File Not Found!