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HTTP referer

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In HTTP , " Referer " (a misspelling of " Referrer ") is an optional HTTP header field that identifies the address of the web page (i.e., the URI or IRI ) from which the resource has been requested. By checking the referrer, the server providing the new web page can see where the request originated.

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46-459: In the most common situation, this means that when a user clicks a hyperlink in a web browser , causing the browser to send a request to the server holding the destination web page, the request may include the Referer field, which indicates the last page the user was on (the one where they clicked the link). Web sites and web servers log the content of the received Referer field to identify

92-550: A "one-to-many" link, an "extended link" or a "multi-tailed link") is a hyperlink which leads to multiple endpoints; the link is a set-valued function . Tim Berners-Lee saw the possibility of using hyperlinks to link any information to any other information over the Internet . Hyperlinks were therefore integral to the creation of the World Wide Web . Web pages are written in the hypertext mark-up language HTML . This

138-411: A "trail" of related information, and then scroll back and forth among pages in a trail as if they were on a single microfilm reel. In a series of books and articles published from 1964 through 1980, Nelson transposed Bush's concept of automated cross-referencing into the computer context, made it applicable to specific text strings rather than whole pages, generalized it from a local desk-sized machine to

184-561: A document, e.g. a webpage , or other resource, or to a position in a webpage. The latter is achieved by means of an HTML element with a "name" or "id" attribute at that position of the HTML document. The URL of the position is the URL of the webpage with a fragment identifier  – "# id attribute " – appended. When linking to PDF documents from an HTML page the " id attribute " can be replaced with syntax that references

230-468: A false URL, usually their own. This raises the problem of referrer spam. The technical details of both methods are fairly consistent – software applications act as a proxy server and manipulate the HTTP request, while web-based methods load websites within frames, causing the web browser to send a referrer URL of their website address. Some web browsers give their users the option to turn off referrer fields in

276-431: A graphical user interface, the appearance of a mouse cursor may change into a hand motif to indicate a link. In most graphical web browsers, links are displayed in underlined blue text when they have not been visited, but underlined purple text when they have. When the user activates the link (e.g., by clicking on it with the mouse ) the browser displays the link's target. If the target is not an HTML file, depending on

322-421: A hyperlink may vary with the hypertext system and may sometimes depend on the link itself; for instance, on the World Wide Web most hyperlinks cause the target document to replace the document being displayed, but some are marked to cause the target document to open in a new window (or, perhaps, in a new tab ). Another possibility is transclusion , for which the link target is a document fragment that replaces

368-407: A new window to be created. It is especially common to see this type of link when one large website links to an external page. The intention in that case is to ensure that the person browsing is aware that there is no endorsement of the site being linked to by the site that was linked from. However, the attribute is sometimes overused and can sometimes cause many windows to be created even while browsing

414-541: A page number or another element of the PDF, for example, "# page=386 ". A web browser usually displays a hyperlink in some distinguishing way, e.g. in a different color , font or style , or with certain symbols following to visualize link target or document types. This is also called link decoration . The behavior and style of links can be specified using the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) language. In

460-473: A regular window , but in a special hover box , which disappears when the cursor is moved away (sometimes it disappears anyway after a few seconds, and reappears when the cursor is moved away and back). Mozilla Firefox , IE , Opera , and many other web browsers all show the URL. In addition, the URL is commonly shown in the status bar . Normally, a link opens in the current frame or window, but sites that use frames and multiple windows for navigation can add

506-562: A single document (1966), and soon after for connecting between paragraphs within separate documents (1968), with NLS . Ben Shneiderman working with graduate student Dan Ostroff designed and implemented the highlighted link in the HyperTIES system in 1983. HyperTIES was used to produce the world's first electronic journal, the July 1988 Communications of the ACM , which was cited as the source for

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552-542: A single site. Another special page name is "_top", which causes any frames in the current window to be cleared away so that browsing can continue in the full window. The term "link" was coined in 1965 (or possibly 1964) by Ted Nelson at the start of Project Xanadu . Nelson had been inspired by " As We May Think ", a popular 1945 essay by Vannevar Bush . In the essay, Bush described a microfilm-based machine (the Memex ) in which one could link any two pages of information into

598-465: A special "target" attribute to specify where the link loads. If no window exists with that name, a new window is created with the ID, which can be used to refer to the window later in the browsing session. Creation of new windows is probably the most common use of the "target" attribute. To prevent accidental reuse of a window, the special window names "_blank" and "_new" are usually available, and always cause

644-520: A summary of the current status of US copyright law as to hyperlinking, see the discussion regarding the Arriba Soft and Perfect 10 cases . Somewhat controversially, Vuestar Technologies has tried to enforce patents applied for by its owner, Ronald Neville Langford, around the world relating to search techniques using hyperlinked images to other websites or web pages. Internet security Too Many Requests If you report this error to

690-424: A theoretical proprietary worldwide computer network, and advocated the creation of such a network. Though Nelson's Xanadu Corporation was eventually funded by Autodesk in the 1980s, it never created this proprietary public-access network. Meanwhile, working independently, a team led by Douglas Engelbart (with Jeff Rulifson as chief programmer ) was the first to implement the hyperlink concept for scrolling within

736-437: A typical web browser, this would display as the underlined word "Example" in blue, which when clicked would take the user to the example.com website. This contributes to a clean, easy to read text or document. By default, browsers will usually display hyperlinks as such: When the cursor hovers over a link, depending on the browser and graphical user interface, some informative text about the link can be shown, popping up, not in

782-466: Is a digital reference to data that the user can follow or be guided to by clicking or tapping . A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with hyperlinks. The text that is linked from is known as anchor text . A software system that is used for viewing and creating hypertext is a hypertext system , and to create a hyperlink is to hyperlink (or simply to link ). A user following hyperlinks

828-579: Is a distinction between the mere act of linking to someone else's website, and linking to content that is illegal (e.g., gambling illegal in the US) or infringing (e.g., illegal MP3 copies). Several courts have found that merely linking to someone else's website, even if by bypassing commercial advertising, is not copyright or trademark infringement, regardless of how much someone else might object. Linking to illegal or infringing content can be sufficiently problematic to give rise to legal liability. Compare for

874-623: Is added. In certain jurisdictions , it is or has been held that hyperlinks are not merely references or citations , but are devices for copying web pages. In the Netherlands, Karin Spaink was initially convicted in this way of copyright infringement by linking, although this ruling was overturned in 2003. The courts that advocate this view see the mere publication of a hyperlink that connects to illegal material to be an illegal act in itself, regardless of whether referencing illegal material

920-406: Is hidden. Content Security Policy standard version 1.1 introduced a new referrer directive that allows more control over the browser's behaviour in regards to the referrer header. Specifically it allows the webmaster to instruct the browser not to block referrer at all, reveal it only when moving with the same origin etc. Hyperlink In computing , a hyperlink , or simply a link ,

966-463: Is illegal. In 2004, Josephine Ho was acquitted of 'hyperlinks that corrupt traditional values' in Taiwan . In 2000, British Telecom sued Prodigy , claiming that Prodigy infringed its patent ( U.S. patent 4,873,662 ) on web hyperlinks. After litigation , a court found for Prodigy, ruling that British Telecom 's patent did not cover web hyperlinks. In United States jurisprudence , there

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1012-443: Is not allowed without permission. Contentious in particular are deep links , which do not point to a site's home page or other entry point designated by the site owner, but to content elsewhere, allowing the user to bypass the site's own designated flow, and inline links , which incorporate the content in question into the pages of the linking site, making it seem part of the linking site's own content unless an explicit attribution

1058-637: Is said to navigate or browse the hypertext. The document containing a hyperlink is known as its source document. For example, in content from Misplaced Pages or Google Search , many words and terms in the text are hyperlinked to definitions of those terms. Hyperlinks are often used to implement reference mechanisms such as tables of contents, footnotes , bibliographies , indexes , and glossaries . In some hypertext, hyperlinks can be bidirectional: they can be followed in two directions, so both ends act as anchors and as targets. More complex arrangements exist, such as many-to-many links. The effect of following

1104-625: Is the URL of the previous web page from which a link was followed. More generally, a referrer is the URL of a previous item which led to this request. For example, the referrer for an image is generally the HTML page on which it is to be displayed. The referrer field is an optional part of the HTTP request sent by the web browser to the web server. Many websites log referrers as part of their attempt to track their users . Most web log analysis software can process this information. Because referrer information can violate privacy , some web browsers allow

1150-561: Is understood by" the standard Unix spell checker of the period. "Referer" has since become a widely used spelling in the industry when discussing HTTP referrers; usage of the misspelling is not universal, though, as the correct spelling "referrer" is used in some web specifications such as the Referrer-Policy HTTP header or the Document Object Model . When visiting a web page, the referrer or referring page

1196-741: Is what a hyperlink to the home page of the W3C organization could look like in HTML code: This HTML code consists of several tags : Webgraph is a graph , formed from web pages as vertices and hyperlinks, as directed edges. The W3C recommendation called XLink describes hyperlinks that offer a far greater degree of functionality than those offered in HTML. These extended links can be multidirectional , remove linking from, within, and between XML documents. It can also describe simple links , which are unidirectional and therefore offer no more functionality than hyperlinks in HTML. Permalinks are URLs that are intended to remain unchanged for many years into

1242-511: Is why a link to a fragment is called an anchor link (that is, a link to an anchor). For example, in XML , the element <anchor id="name" />" provides anchoring capability (as long as the DTD or schema defines it), and in wiki markup , {{anchor|name}} is a typical example of implementing it. In word processor apps, anchors can be inserted where desired and may be called bookmarks . In URLs ,

1288-459: The file type and on the browser and its plugins , another program may be activated to open the file. The HTML code contains some or all of the five main characteristics of a link: It uses the HTML element "a" with the attribute "href" (HREF is an abbreviation for "Hypertext REFerence" ) and optionally also the attributes "title", "target", and " class " or "id": To embed a link into a web page, blogpost, or comment, it may take this form: In

1334-417: The HTTP referrer sent by the web browser for each request. This raises a number of privacy concerns, and as a result, a number of systems to prevent web servers being sent the real referring URL have been developed. These systems work either by blanking the referrer field or by replacing it with inaccurate data. Generally, Internet-security suites blank the referrer data, while web-based servers replace it with

1380-433: The ability to give the top-level address of the target website as the referrer, which reduces these problems but can still in some cases divulge the user's last-visited web page. Many blogs publish referrer information in order to link back to people who are linking to them, and hence broaden the conversation. This has led, in turn, to the rise of referrer spam : the sending of fake referrer information in order to popularize

1426-688: The domain name. The misspelling of referrer was introduced in the original proposal by computer scientist Phillip Hallam-Baker to incorporate the "Referer" header field into the HTTP specification. The misspelling was set in stone by the time (May 1996) of its incorporation into the Request for Comments standards document RFC 1945 (which 'reflects common usage of the protocol referred to as "HTTP/1.0 " ' at that time); document co-author Roy Fielding remarked in March 1995 that "neither one (referer or referrer)

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1472-485: The full linked content is not needed, as is the case when rearranging a page layout . An anchor hyperlink (anchor link) is a link bound to a portion of a document, which is often called a fragment . The fragment is generally a portion of text or a heading, though not necessarily. For instance, it may also be a hot area in an image ( image map in HTML ), a designated, often irregular part of an image. Fragments are marked with anchors (in any of various ways), which

1518-621: The future, yielding hyperlinks that are less susceptible to link rot . Permalinks are often rendered simply, that is, as friendly URLs, so as to be easy for people to type and remember. Permalinks are used in order to point and redirect readers to the same Web page , blog post or any online digital media. The scientific literature is a place where link persistence is crucial to the public knowledge. A 2013 study in BMC Bioinformatics analyzed 15,000 links in abstracts from Thomson Reuters' Web of Science citation index, founding that

1564-438: The hash character (#) precedes the name of the anchor for the fragment. One way to define a hot area in an image is by a list of coordinates that indicate its boundaries. For example, a political map of Africa may have each country hyperlinked to further information about that country. A separate invisible hot area interface allows for swapping skins or labels within the linked hot areas without repetitive embedding of links in

1610-456: The link anchor within the source document. Not only persons browsing the document may follow hyperlinks. These hyperlinks may also be followed automatically by programs. A program that traverses the hypertext, following each hyperlink and gathering all the retrieved documents is known as a Web spider or crawler . An inline link displays remote content without the need for embedding the content. The remote content may be accessed with or without

1656-586: The link concept in Tim Berners-Lee 's Spring 1989 manifesto for the Web. In 1988, Ben Shneiderman and Greg Kearsley used HyperTIES to publish "Hypertext Hands-On!", the world's first electronic book. Released in 1987 for the Apple Macintosh , the database program HyperCard allowed for hyperlinking between various pages within a document, as well as to other documents and separate applications on

1702-412: The median lifespan of Web pages was 9.3 years, and just 62% were archived. The median lifespan of a Web page constitutes high-degree variable, but its order of magnitude usually is of some months. A link from one domain to another is said to be outbound from its source anchor and inbound to its target. The most common destination anchor is a URL used in the World Wide Web . This can refer to

1748-416: The referrer field is not sent. The HTML5 standard added support for the attribute/value rel="noreferrer" , which instructs the user agent to not send a referrer. Another referrer hiding method is to convert the original link URL to a Data URI scheme -based URL containing small HTML page with a meta refresh to the original URL. When the user is redirected from the data: page, the original referrer

1794-516: The request header. Most web browsers do not send the referrer field when they are instructed to redirect using the "Refresh" field. This does not include some versions of Opera and many mobile web browsers. However, this method of redirection is discouraged by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). If a website is accessed from a HTTP Secure (HTTPS) connection and a link points to anywhere except another secure location, then

1840-479: The same computer. In 1990, Windows Help , which was introduced with Microsoft Windows 3.0 , had widespread use of hyperlinks to link different pages in a single help file together; in addition, it had a visually different kind of hyperlink that caused a popup help message to appear when clicked, usually to give definitions of terms introduced on the help page. The first widely used open protocol that included hyperlinks from any Internet site to any other Internet site

1886-466: The spammer's website. It is possible to access the referrer information on the client side using document.referrer in JavaScript . This can be used, for example, to individualize a web page based on a user's search engine query. However, the referrer field does not always include search keywords, such as when using Google Search with HTTPS. Most web servers maintain logs of all traffic, and record

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1932-449: The user following the link. An inline link may display a modified version of the content; for instance, instead of an image, a thumbnail , low resolution preview , cropped section, or magnified section may be shown. The full content is then usually available on demand, as is the case with print publishing software – e.g., with an external link . This allows for smaller file sizes and quicker response to changes when

1978-451: The user to disable the sending of referrer information. Some proxy and firewall software will also filter out referrer information, to avoid leaking the location of non-public websites. This can, in turn, cause problems: some web servers block parts of their website to web browsers that do not send the right referrer information, in an attempt to prevent deep linking or unauthorised use of images ( bandwidth theft ). Some proxy software has

2024-497: The various skin elements. Text hyperlink. Hyperlink is embedded into a word or a phrase and makes this text clickable. Image hyperlink. Hyperlink is embedded into an image and makes this image clickable. Bookmark hyperlink. Hyperlink is embedded into a text or an image and takes visitors to another part of a web page. E-mail hyperlink. Hyperlink is embedded into e-mail address and allows visitors to send an e-mail message to this e-mail address. A fat link (also known as

2070-455: The web page from which the user followed a link, for promotional or statistical purposes. This entails a loss of privacy for the user and may introduce a security risk. To mitigate security risks, browsers have been steadily reducing the amount of information sent in Referer. As of March 2021, by default Chrome , Chromium -based Edge , Firefox , Safari default to sending only the origin in cross-origin requests, stripping out everything but

2116-581: Was the Gopher protocol from 1991. It was soon eclipsed by HTML after the 1993 release of the Mosaic browser (which could handle Gopher links as well as HTML links). HTML's advantage was the ability to mix graphics, text, and hyperlinks, unlike Gopher, which just had menu-structured text and hyperlinks. While hyperlinking among webpages is an intrinsic feature of the web , some websites object to being linked by other websites; some have claimed that linking to them

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