FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Finding broken links using Pinger

Current Projects page Finding broken links on wiki pages

Purpose
The purpose of this project is to use the Pinger program to identify broken links and fix the broken links on wiki pages.

Project Contact
Danielle Batson

Task Page
None at this time

Instructions
This project is in two parts: PART A: Using Pinger PART B: How to find the correct links using the Wayback machine on Archive.org

Step 1 - Obtain the Pinger Add-on
1. Open your Firefox browser and copy and go to this website: Pinger Add-on 2. Click on green button: Add to Firefox. Once it's loaded, restart Firefox. (remember that you only need to do this once) 3. Once you are done, go to the wiki and navigate to the page you want to check links on. 4. Once on the page, right click anywhere on the page and when the menu opens, click on, Ping All Links 5. The page will fill with different colors over the links:
 * Green: good links (link is good)
 * Gray: skipped links (you need to check the link yourself)
 * Red: broken links (you need to fix the link)

6. A report shows up on the screen giving you the results of the test. To get the report to disappear, click on the dark gray around the report. If you are farther down the page, you must go back up to the gray area. NOTE:
 * Some red links may not be truly broken. We’ve found some pages that have search fields may be a false positive for being broken.
 * If you find a broken link that is on more than one page, send me the old link and the new link. And I’ll fix them all for you.
 * If you ever have the wiki page not respond when you click on Ping All Links, trying closing Firefox and opening up again.
 * Note that the report may report more broken links than appear on the page.

Step 1
Go to: https://archive.org/web/ This website has what is called a Wayback Machine. The Wayback Machine has a history of what a URL used to contain.

Step 2
In the Wayback machine URL field, paste in your link and press enter.



Step 3
You will now see a calendar that lists when the webpage was archived. Choose a date that has a blue circle around it to see what the page looked like. It is suggested to try a day in the previous year. If the page shows up as a broken link, then try a date 6 months earlier until you see a web page.



Step 4
If the Wayback machine does NOT have an original version of the page, try CachedPages.com to see if it contains a copy. Go to: http://www.cachedpages.com/

Delete the http:// in the Enter URL field and paste the broken URL.



Step 5

 * Once you find the old webpage, go to Google and searching for the new URL. Try taking the beginning portion of the URL to locate a possible page. Also try googling some key words on the old page along with the first part of the URL. '
 * For the broken link: http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/marriage.html from the Wayback Machine you see the words: the name of the website: Illinois State Archives and the database it’s linking to: Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763-1900
 * Type in google: Illinois state archives statewide marriage index 1763-1900
 * Try out each of the URLS until you find a good match. For this example, the correct match is: http://www.ilsos.gov/isavital/marriagesrch.jsp

Step 6
With the correct new URL, go to the wiki county page and replace the broken link with the new one you have found. Be sure to check the page once you have updated it to be sure the new link you added works.

NOTE: If you are unable to locate a new link for the broken one, go to the county page and remove the information pertaining to that link (the URL and any description).