Explanation of Web Page Forwarding

In this section, we explain what Web Page Forwarding is, how it works, and give a couple of examples of the two types of web page forwarding offered by our service. The two types of forwarding are:
  1. Direct Web Page Forwarding
  2. Frame Based Web Page Forwarding
Both of these forwarding techniques allow you to choose an address like "www.Christ.com/yourname", and have it forwarded to your current web page, for example at "users.aol.com/somename/somefile.html". Your current web page can be anywhere on the World Wide Web, and still be reached by your new address "www.Christ.com/yourname"! This lets you have a web page address that is easier to remember, and more meaningful.

http://www.Christ.com/yourname

http://users.aol.com/somename/somefile.html
........
Or anywhere else on the World Wide Web!




Example of Web Page Forwarding

We will use examples to demonstrate how the different web forwarding techniques work. Suppose you already have an existing web page, with the following web page address:

example of original web page address:
http://www.np-complete.com/someuser/stuff/Christ-firstpage.html

This is one of those long addresses similar to what you might find at Geocities or through your Internet Service Provider. It is hard to remember, and probably does not reflect your interests (np-complete?).

The following examples will illustrate how the two new web page names "www.Christ.com/christdemo" and "www.Christ.com/CHRISTDEMO" can be used to retrieve the original web page at "www.np-complete.com/someuser/stuff/Christ-firstpage.html".

The example we will be demonstrating is illustrated below. The user can type either http://www.Christ.com/christdemo   or   http://www.Christ.com/CHRISTDEMO into the browser location window, and have it automatically forwarded to the users real web page address at http://www.np-complete.com/someuser/stuff/Christ-firstpage.html. Note that either address will be forwarded to the target address. The only difference in this example, is the way the final address is displayed when the target web page is retrieved:

http://www.Christ.com/christdemo
or
http://www.Christ.com/CHRISTDEMO

http://www.np-complete.com/someuser/stuff/Christ-firstpage.html




Web Page Names: Upper and Lower Case Letters

Note that the two names "www.Christ.com/christdemo" and "www.Christ.com/CHRISTDEMO" differ only in the part of the address after the domain www.Christ.com, where one is in capital letters (CHRISTDEMO), and the other is in lower case letters (christdemo). This is the usual case with webservers, where the part of the web page address after the domain name is case sensitive. The domain name is the first part of the address, usually ending in ".com", ".net" and ".org", and is NOT case sensitive.

This case sensitivity means that "www.Christ.com/christdemo" and "www.Christ.com/CHRISTDEMO" are different web page addresses, while "www.christ.com/christdemo" and "WWW.CHRIST.COM/christdemo" are the SAME web page address... Confusing? It has to do with the UNIX operating system, which is used by most web servers. Note that on Windows web servers, nothing is case sensitive, so it depends on your web server... Since most web servers are UNIX based (not Windows based), then case sensitivity (capitalization) is important. This is summarized below:

URL #1 URL #2 UNIX Windows
www.christ.com/christdemo www.christ.com/CHRISTDEMO Different
Address 		Same
Address
www.christ.com/christdemo WWW.CHRIST.COM/christdemo Same
Address 		Same
Address

The above table summarizes case sensitivity in UNIX and Windows servers. This shows why it is always important to type the web page address correctly, including the capitalization after the ".com" part of the address!

We will take advantage of this case sensitivity to illustrate the two web page forwarding techniques. We will use the lower case address "www.Christ.com/christdemo" to demonstrate "direct web page forwarding", and use the upper case address "www.Christ.com/CHRISTDEMO" to demonstrate "frame based web page forwarding".



Direct Web Page Forwarding Example:
www.Christ.com/christdemo

This example illustrates "direct web page forwarding". It takes the name "www.Christ.com/christdemo" that you enter into the browser address (or location) window, and forwards it to the target address at "www.np-complete.com/someuser/stuff/Christ-firstpage.html".

You can either click on the link below, or enter the address directly into the browser location window by typing the full address:


Type the following address directly into the browser location window:
http://www.Christ.com/christdemo


or click on the following link:
Link to http://www.Christ.com/christdemo


The point worth noting in this example, is that after you type the address into the browser location window and hit the "Enter" key, the site is immediately forwarded to the following address:

http://www.np-complete.com/someuser/stuff/Christ-firstpage.html

It is the address above that shows up in the browser location window after the web page is forwarded. This is the main difference between the two forwarding techniques. With direct forwarding, the final destination address (target address) is the address listed in the location window of the browser. In frame based forwarding, the new address (the one you choose at www.Christ.com) is the address that shows up in the location window. This is the sequence of events as seen by the browser:

Enter the following address in browser location window:
http://www.Christ.com/christdemo
....
(click "Enter" key on keyboard)
....
Page is forwarded to following address:
http://www.np-complete.com/someuser/stuff/Christ-firstpage.html
(Contents of above page are sent to the browser for viewing)
....
Following address is listed in browser location window:
http://www.np-complete.com/someuser/stuff/Christ-firstpage.html
(above address is listed in browser location window, which is the actual web page target address)




Frame Based Web Page Forwarding Example
www.Christ.com/CHRISTDEMO/

This example illustrates "frame based web page forwarding". It takes the name "www.Christ.com/CHRISTDEMO/" that you enter into the browser address (or location) window, and forwards it to the target address at "www.np-complete.com/someuser/stuff/Christ-firstpage.html".

You can either click on the link below, or enter the address directly into the browser location window by typing the full address:


Type the following address directly into the browser location window:
http://www.Christ.com/CHRISTDEMO/


or click on the following link:
Link to http://www.Christ.com/CHRISTDEMO/


As with the previous example, after you type the address into the browser location window and hit the "Enter" key, the site is again forwarded to the following address:

http://www.np-complete.com/someuser/stuff/Christ-firstpage.html

This time, however, the address that shows up in the browser location window is the new web page address at www.Christ.com. This is an important difference. Some people do not want the original (target) address listed in the location window. They want the new address at www.Christ.com to be listed in the window.

This is the main difference between the two forwarding techniques. With direct forwarding, the final destination address (target address) is the address listed in the location window of the browser. In frame based forwarding, the new address (the one you choose at Christ.com) is the address that shows up in the location window. This is the sequence of events as seen by the browser:

Enter the following address in browser location window:
http://www.Christ.com/CHRISTDEMO
....
(click "Enter" key on keyboard)
....
Page is forwarded to following address:
http://www.np-complete.com/someuser/stuff/Christ-firstpage.html
(Contents of above page are sent to the browser for viewing)
....
Following address is listed in browser location window:
http://www.Christ.com/CHRISTDEMO/index.htm
(above address is the one listed in browser location window, which is the new web page address)




Note in the above example, that the final address listed in the browser location window is http://www.Christ.com/CHRISTDEMO/index.htm, even though you entered http://www.Christ.com/CHRISTDEMO into the browser. The "index.htm" part of the address is the default file retrieved by the browser.

If you like, you can use the address at www.Christ.com with or without the "index.htm" portion. Your web page will be retrieved either way, although once retrieved, the index.htm portion will be listed in the location window. Go ahead and try it both ways, and you will see that index.htm is automatically appended to your address. Notice that using the form of address with the index.htm is a little bit faster, since you are retrieving the index.htm script directly.

The last point worth noting in the frame based forwarding example, is the behavior of links in a web page frame. When you click on a link in a framed page, the address listed in the location window does not change, unless you use the "TARGET" attribute in the link definition. This is standard with frame based web pages. Some people do not like working with frames for just this reason, while others like it. It is easy to get around this by using the "TARGET" attribute in the link reference. See any good book on HTML and frames to learn more about working with frames. Although frames are popular, they do require a bit more programming experience in setting up a web page! The following section describes frames in more detail.



Working With Frames:

As mentioned above, working with frames requires a bit more programming experience in setting up a web page. This is a property of frames, and is unrelated to web page forwarding. If you choose the frame based web page forwarding, then your web page will be loaded into a single "invisible frame", with the frame identifier TARGET="mainframe".

The structure of frame based web pages has nothing to do with web page forwarding. See the "Frames" section of your HTML manual to learn more about frames. The frame feature of HTML is powerful, but requires a bit more experience in setting up the web page. To study the structure of any frame based page, you can view it directly by using the "View Document Info" and "View Document Source" in the Netscape browser, or "View Source" in the Microsoft Internet Explorer, and right clicking with the mouse in various window frames:



Viewing HTML Source Code in Frame Based Web Pages:

One of the best ways to learn about frame based websites is to view the HTML source code of other frame based pages. This section describes how to view the HTML source code for individual frames in a web page:

Netscape Browser:




Internet Explorer Browser:



Once you have viewed the HTML source code for a few frames, and found a good book on frame usage in HTML, this should be second nature.... and you will be writing frame based web pages on your own!



Embedded Links in Frame Based Web Pages:

The example links above demonstrate how embedded links in a web page work. They illustrate how links behave in both frame based web pages, and web pages that do not use frames. Study the above examples to see how frames affect the location listed in the browser location window.

In non-frame based web pages, when you click on a link, the address of the link will show up in the browser location window. This is the normal behavior you expect when you click on a link... the link address shows up in the browser location window.

When a frame based web page is used, and a link is clicked, the default action is to load the new linked page into the current frame (the frame in which the link was contained). Although the new page is loaded into the current frame, the browser location window does not change, unless you use the "TARGET" attribute in the link. This usually comes as a surprise to new web page programmers. Once you understand the way frames work with HTML, this is easy to fix, using the "TARGET" attribute in the link definition.

As mentioned previously, the frame based web page forwarding loads your original web page into an invisible frame, named TARGET="mainframe". The reason this is done, is that it allows your original web page to have the address "www.Christ.com/yourname" in the browser location window!

If this all sounds a bit confusing... then don't worry. You can change between frame based and direct forwarding at any time, and as often as you wish. By default, when we open your account, we give you BOTH! The version of "yourname" in lower case letters is direct forwarding (www.Christ.com/yourname), while the verion of "YOURNAME" in upper case letters is frame based forwarding (www.Christ.com/YOURNAME). This lets you experiment with both versions on your own page. Once you are familiar with the service, you can switch either or both versions (upper and lower cases of "yourname") to either frame based or direct forwarding:

Default Forwarding for New Accounts:

http://www.Christ.com/yourname
Direct web page forwarding
http://www.Christ.com/YOURNAME
Frame based web page forwarding




Title Definition in Frame Based Forwarding

The "title" of a web page is the text string at the very top of the browser window. It is defined in HTML using the <TITLE> tag, as illustrated below:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Example Title for Web Page</TITLE>
</HEAD>
In the above HTML code, the title of the web page is Example Title for Web Page. A web page with this section of code will have this title. Since we are embedding your frame based web page into a frame on our site at www.Christ.com, then you will need to upload your title to our server. This is a simple process. Once you are registered, you can update your titles at any time by going to the Update Web Forwarding Options section, listed in the Table of Contents for www.Christ.com, and entering your account name, and password. Once this is done, you will be asked to enter your web page title, which is then automatically changed. This form also allows you to change between Direct and Frame Based forwarding.



Summary

OK... This may look long and confusing at first, but it is really quite simple. If you want a name like "www.Christ.com/yourname" forwarded to your existing page, for example a page at "users.aol.com/someuser/somefile.html", then these are the options:

We assign you TWO new web page names at www.Christ.com, one in upper case and one in lower case:

You can then choose to have either or both of these names use direct forwarding or frame based forwarding:


The difference between Direct and Frame Based Forwarding is summarized below:



The last comment, is that by default, we assign the following two web forwarding addresses to new accounts, which can be changed at any time:

Default Forwarding Options on New Accounts:





whew.... any questions???
Job@Lordofhosts.com - Send E-Mail to the webservant at www.Christ.com!