Re: Remembering the last used mirror

Magnus Hagander wrote:
> Dave Page wrote:
>>>  (Or for that matter, does anybody think this whole
>>> thing is a crappy idea?)
>> Yes, we used to do that and it was a real pita that caused nothing but trouble. 
> 
> Really? That must've been before my time, 'cuz I don't remember any of
> that. 

It almost certainly was, back when Vince did most of the web stuff.

> Out of curiosity, exactly what were the issues, if you recall?
> (Not questioning you, just want to know given that so many others to it
> that way..)

Well it was slightly different back then so what you have now may be OK
- I just want to make sure it's gonna work this time before
inadvertently annoying people!

Back then, the front page of the website was an auto-redirect to one of
the mirror sites. This used to lead to two problems:

- If the site you got directed to was down or slow, it was a nightmare
to get to another mirror because the auto-redirect kicked in instantly
when you hit the back button. This shouldn't be a problem this time as
now I'm in a position to look at what you've done, I can see you display
the page, a warning and give a delay before redirecting.

- After the auto-redirect had kicked in, some browsers (notably, IE)
misbehave and won't respond to the stop or back button for some time -
seemingly whilst they wait for the initial connection to succeed or
timeout. This could also be a PITA, but should be purely a browser issue
with the delay you've included (it magnified the annoyance levels caused
by the bad design previously).

So I *think* the main issues that auto-redirecting had last time round
are not problems with your code.

One thought that does spring to mind though, what happens if the mirror
used previously has dropped out of use when you return? Will it still
default to it?

Regards, Dave.