URL Typos & Dubious Redirects

Have you heard of phishing attacks? Typically, they are done via spam mails, where the sender wants the recipient to think that the email is authentic, and so are the links within the email. A usual practice followed is to show a hyperlink that supposedly takes the recipient to a known/safe website, but the hyperlink actually points to a similar looking website that would capture the user credentials and other sensitive data. Beware of such links in the email. Use your browser instead. How exactly? Just a minute, I am coming to that.

Another form of phishing is where the user, in an attempt to get to a website, is lured to such a similar looking website, thanks to the typo of the URL (website address) in the browser. For instance, if I mis-type the URL for a website, such as wikipidea.org, instead of the original wikipedia.org, I get redirected to a dubious looking site such as channel-reward-central.com. This one, though, has a look similar to YouTube! But anyway, you get the idea. So, how do we overcome such issues?

For one, use a very little used feature of your browser's - the favorites links. In fact, browsers these days show you a list of frequently visited web sites when you open a new tab. So, that's a good place as well.

But what if you have got a new PC, have installed a new browser, or have just not visited your bank's website in a month, and it isnt saved in your favorites either? Or let's say, what if I want to install Firefox, and i am not sure whether I need to go to firefox.com or mozilla.com? These are situations when your favorite search engine can help as well. Hopefully, you have set that as your home page, or are able to type in the URL with errors, otherwise we are back to square one: goog.com or googe.com for instance is where you shouldn't go. Now, with google.com open, search for the website or the product you are looking for, and the first non-ad link should get you there safely.

Here are some more tips: http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=8091

Apologies to those who feel this to be a typical case of too many words and too little substance. :)

URL and URI

The terms URL (uniform resource locator) and URI (uniform resource identifier) are often used interchangeably, and very often, this is not correct.

More to read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Identifier

To me, a URL points to a physical path to get to the resource, such as one that points to a file or a web page.

On the other hand, a URI is a logical identifier, such as a namespace in a schema definition.

Web Browsers

As web developers, if we are to target 80 to 90% of world-wide web users, we need to ensure that our app works well on at least IE, Firefox & Chrome. You can add Opera, Safari and others if you want to do better.

What is a web browser?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser

List
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_web_browsers

Timeline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_web_browsers

Usage share
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers

Evaluate websites

http://www.websiteoutlook.com/
Currently, Google is ranked #1 with more than a billion page views every day, and Facebook is at #2 with about half a billion page views every day.

In comparison, our retail client's online shopping website gets about a million page views every day.

Web Code Snippet tester for web

If you want to try out some HTML, CSS, JavaScript or even jQuery, here is a convenient way to do so instead of on your dev box. Once you create a snippet, you can even share it with your friends.
http://jsfiddle.net/