META tags

Mick's Dinky Di Ridgy Didge Web Site and HTML Guide?

HOME ~ RESOURCE KIT ~ WEBMASTER'S ZONE ~ JAVASCRIPT ~ DESIGN TIPS

About META tags

These tags are located in HTML pages right after the <HEAD> tag.

[Some pages may have a brief tag immediately before the <HTML><HEAD> tags that defines the type of document the file is and the HTML standard or version being used. It would appear like the following example:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">]

The META tag contain details that are not visible to the viewer, like other HTML tags. However, search engines use the META tag for several reasons. These include indexing sites for content. This is the keyword tag that contains relevant words one might use to locate a site. Another is the description tag that can contain a short text describing the site's contents. This appears in the search results of some search engines and allows people to determine additional detail about that site.

Below is an example that could apply to this site:

Other META tags contain details of the software and page author. If you used Netscape Composer the following tags may be added automatically by the program itself:

The character set a page uses can be specified. This may be useful if a character set other than standard is used, such as if a language other than English is used. For English, it would appear as below:

Client pull

One of the features of META tags that can be useful is known as client pull. This can make a page load another automatically, to preview a site, or to redirect users to another location, such as where a site is relocated or updated. To do this one places a redirection page in the old directory that then sends a visitor to the new site's address. Below is an example that will take a visitor to the new location after a 5 second delay:

<HTML>

<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh"

CONTENT="5; URL=http://www.design.com/web/tips/index.html">

This page has moved to http://www.design.com/web/tips/index.html. Your browser should take you there in about 5 seconds.

<BR>

Click the link below if your browser does not load automatically:

<P>

<A HREF="http://www.design.com/web/tips/index.html">http://www.design.com/web/tips/index.html </A>

</HTML>

Note that the URL needs to include the full path. Eg. http://www……

In the code below, HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" tells the browser to begin executing the client pull. The code also indicates the amount of time (in seconds) the browser will wait before going back to your Web server to retrieve the page. You must also give the URL for the page's new location. This URL has to be the absolute reference; that is, you can't use relative links such as URL="new.htm". And for visitors whose browsers don't support client pull (like Netscape's Navigator 1.0), you can include text providing them with the new URL, as I did in the code below.

<HTML>

<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh"

CONTENT="5; URL=http://www.companyname.com/restaurants/new.htm">

This page has moved to http://www.companyname.com/restaurants/new.htm. Your browser should take you there in about 5 seconds.

</HTML>

Client pull also lets you reload the same page. To do this, simply omit the URL. Sites such as CNN's and others that are frequently updated use this technique to force browsers to refresh their views periodically.

Rating a site's content

Visit the site below and follow the instructions if you want to rate your page or site for content and get another META tag such as below:

HOME ~ RESOURCE KIT ~ WEBMASTER'S ZONE ~ JAVASCRIPT ~ DESIGN TIPS

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws