[OT] A question for you web geeks out there ...

[Paul King]

I tried the html on a different computer... looks like the cache wasn't cleared 
after all ... oops :-$

However, index.xml, which is of nonzero length, still turns out to be a nicely-
formatted webpage.

So, to be fair to Yahoo, they seemed to have done it right this time.

Paul King

> 
> On 4/17/07, Paul King <sciguy-Ja3L+HSX0kI at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>     Hello:
> 
>     I have been given the job of maintaining a web site on Yahoo (not my
>     decision, but Yahoo doesn't actually seem as yucky as I first thought),
>     which uses a number of bells and whistles for its basic service. I had been
>     playing around with its blog function, and later decided to disable it after
>     making a few entries to see how it worked (the blog is not necessary for the
>     website).
> 
>     I noticed when I disabled the blog, the files I created were still visible.
>     In the blog directory were files called "index.html" and "index.xml", plus
>     some accessory files (javascript, small graphics files, etc). I decided to
>     delete index.html. I created a zero-length index.html file in its place
>     (intending to examine the other files to see what their purpose was). When I
>     tested it, I saw the file again as if I hadn't deleted it (I cleared the
>     cache on my browser). I clicked on "index.xml", and it came out on my
>     browser as a fairly nicely- formatted webpage. I clicked on my zero-length
>     index.html file, and the same content came up, except with minimal
>     formatting (times roman, black on white). 
> 
>     My question is: how is it that I can click on a zero-length HTML file -- an
>     empty file -- and it still is served to me as a web page with any content at
>     all?
> 
> 
> I'm guessing that when you created the zero length index.html, Yahoo's upload
> code probably said, "Silly user .. he doesn't really mean to do that" and
> ignored the change. Obviously, you can't get a nicely formatted web page from a
> zero length file. :) 
> 
> -- 
> Alex Beamish
> Toronto, Ontario
> aka talexb 


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