Meta Tags: Refresh
 
   

Introduction
The Refresh HTML tag allows you to challenge readers preconceptions of their power to interact with a web page by pushing them from one page to another without granting them any interactive power.

You can, of course, offer links to click, forms to fill in, images to ponder, etc. without actually activating any of them, which just makes the tease a little more compelling. Or you could, perhaps, offer a plethora of links, of which only one, indistinguishable from the rest, is active. Or....

 
   

How

  • You can insert one line of code into your web document
  • You can use Dreamweaver's Insert Object function
 
   

Code
Code is fast, simple & requires no proprietary software. You need to:-

  • open the document into which you want to insert the refresh tag in code view
  • find the <head> tag
  • delete any tag that begins <meta-http equiv..
  • in its place insert the following code:
    • <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5; URL=http://classweb.gmu.edu/textualmedia/lost.html">

The number 5 after content indicates how many seconds you wish to let your audience look at the current page. You may choose any number of seconds. The web address indicates the page to which you wish to redirect your readers.

 
   

Dreamweaver
If you are in the lab. or own the software, use Dreamweaver's Insert Object function. Locating and opening this function will vary according to the version of Dreamweaver you are using. You should aim to display the Objects window.
In Dreamweaver 3 & 4, for example:

  • Click on Window on the top menu, & then click on Objects. The Objects Window should open.
  • Click on the downward facing arrow, and select Head. This will display a new set of objects.
  • Click on the Insert Refresh object. The Insert Refresh object looks like an arrow which turns back on itself. (If you are not sure which object to use, hold your cursor of each one until Insert Refresh appears in the pop-up box.)

In the dialogue box that appears, enter:

  • The number of seconds you want to elapse before the page refreshes.
  • Select the Go to URL button, if it is not already selected, and type or paste in the URL to which you want to redirect your reader/interactor.
  • Click OK

Done!