Using Meta Tags
to make page update themselves or
jump automatically (refresh)
Ever been to a website that's moved and they have pages that automatically take you to the new URL (like this example). Or where the page relaods every few seconds with new information It relies on the <meta> tag with the refresh attribute
<meta> tags go between <head>
and </head> tags on an HTML document (composer
and frontpage express users should use
add HTML functions for this)
Here is HTML will code for a page that automatically links to our home page in 20 seconds <html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="20; URL=http://www.fluffbucket.com/">
</head>
<body>
This jumps to the home of Basic website resources in around 20 seconds. If it doesn't go
<a href="http://www.fluffbucket.com/">click here</a>
</body>
</html>
It is the Content =" " that defines the properties of the page "refresh". The 20; determines how long the page is present in seconds and the URL=... defines the target page)
Remember to include a manual link for browsers that don't accept these tags like we have here (basically use the rule of thumb that if a browser is JavaScript enabled it will work) (Frontpage express and composer users only need to put <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="20; URL=http://www.fluffbucket.com/"> between the head tags and then can on normal mode create a message with a backup link. Frontpage express users go View -> HTML to insert the tags. Composer users go Tools -> HTML tools -> Edit HTML source) You can use the same technique to force a page to reload itself. This can be useful for a page with a constantly updated graphic file like a webcam (you'll need a way to change the image file) The HTML code is basically the same as above Try this example for a page called reload.htm that automatically reloads itself in 20 seconds <html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="20; URL=reload.htm">
</head>
<body>
I'll reload myself in a few seconds
</body>
</html>
(composer
and frontpage express users should use
add HTML functions for this)
As before the Content =" " that defines the properties of the page "refresh". The 20; determines how long the page is present in seconds and the URL=... defines the target page) We used the quick clock script, close button & controlled windows tips with our clock example. Note not all browsers can use this (basically it'll work if JavaScript enabled) Obviously you can use these tecnique to create dynamic sequences of page jumps like this slide show For more see our slide show cool tip
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