Altavista reinvents HTML

or just needs better programmers?

[bird]

Just a little experiment (seems to have worked for more than two weeks now, don't ask how I ran into this one):

Go to the Altavista free submission page, enter an arbitrary URL and an arbitrary invalid submission code, and submit. In the resulting error message, all seems to be fine, even if you check the sources with Netscape (on Linux, anyway).

However, if you save the file to disk, and open it with a text editor that can handle binary data, here's what you will find:

We're sorry. The Submission Code you typed into the text box did not match the Submission Code in the image. Please hit Back and try again. Or, click <A HBEF="http://addurl.altavista.com/sites/addurl/newurl?url2add= http:_//www.example.com/\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0 \0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0">here</A> for a new Submission Code.

(spaces inserted for wrapping) where every "\0" stands for a binary null-byte, the ASCII value 0x0. I'm pretty sure those are not supposed to appear in valid HTML... ;)

[Brett_Tabke]

Evidently it is fixed up now? I couldn't recreate it bird.

[bird]

Still there for me.

Maybe your browser filters out binary data when loading or before saving? I'm using NS 4.78 on Linux, and "Save As...", but the Python httplib returns the same result.