Checkpoint 1.12 - Mobile-PDA

Redirection of pages is a common way of moving a user to a replacement page for a particular hyperlinked page. When controlled from the page displayed on a device, this requires a round-trip to the server, which adds cost and delays. Server-side redirection avoids this problem and allows the server to detect the type of client and, if a mobile browser, to serve up a simpler page for the mobile device.

Requirement

Any redirects are server-side only

Recommendation

With dynamically-generated content, the script should be able to determine what the browser can accept and switch to the appropriate content. Server-side redirects will use HTTP 3xx codes.

Checking Tool

View the source code of a page to ensure there is no use of the <meta> element with http-equiv="refresh", which is deprecated in HTML 4.01.

Information Source

The original source of this information is located on the W3C web site  (www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-TECHS/#tech-no-auto-forward)