Handling New Response Types

The protocol which the browser uses to retrieve documents from a server has been expanded to allow different types of repsonses, apart from simple documents. These responses include errors and forwards.

An error is returned by a server if it encounters a situation it cannot handle. A forward is returned if the document requested no longer exists at that location, and the server knows where the new location is.

When an error response is returned, the browser gives you the option to CANCEL the request, in which the text returned in the message is thrown away. However, on some errors, and on all forwards, the browser may also give you the option to PROCEED. In the case of errors, PROCEEDing tells the browser to attempt to reformulate the request in an attempt to prevent the same error occuring. This may mean requesting data, such as passwords, from you. In the case of forwards, the browser sends the request to the new location.

Where the PROCEED option is available, the browser can handle the entire operation of retrying automatically , if the preference AUTORETRY is set to YES.