Open sources
It doesn't really surprise me that there are so many index-page-less websites out there, but occasionally one will come along that will genuinely surprise me. For the ininitiated, the index page is typically the first page you encounter when you enter the name of a website. So, when you visit http://www.jasonbentley.org, you're actually visiting http://www.jasonbentley.org/index.html. Pretty simple.
Here's the rub: if for any reason the index page is missing, you're left with stark white page with a list of every single file in the web directory, complete with clickable links. You've probably seen one before. They look like this:
Now, I figure, say, mom 'n pop shop owners from Nebraska might overlook this crucial step, but certainly no self-respecting webmaster would let that happen in Silicon Valley. Doing so would mean anybody could download the website in one shot, or have access to private documents that shouldn't be public.
And yet, it has. To the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), no less. During a Google search, I stumbled across http://www.vta.org/news/vtacmp. A few years ago, I discovered that doing searches on file extensions plus one or two of the text phrases common to index pages ("parent directory", "index of", and "last modified") yielded some awesome results. Try it yourself and search for mp3s or pdfs.
Cool, huh?
I don't know if the VTA page was intentionally left wide open, but it was, and now I have a collection of over 800 pdf files that run from VTA employee guides to memoranda of the board of directors to every public transportation schedule they produce. I have several maps of Santa Clara county, each one with its layers intact, which means it's fully editable in Adobe Illustrator.
If this wasn't intentional, nobody's caught it for a long time. I first found this page in January.
A couple of other tips for newbie site designers: If you're into freaky stuff, don't put your bookmarks file on your website. Googling "bookmarks.html" along with some bizarre fetish reveals waaaaay too much about too many people. And lastly, kids - just cuz you label a directory "private" does not make it so. I don't care if those pictures are all about your sense of discovery - they don't belong on the Internet. :-)
Happy Googlin' :-)
Here's the rub: if for any reason the index page is missing, you're left with stark white page with a list of every single file in the web directory, complete with clickable links. You've probably seen one before. They look like this:
Now, I figure, say, mom 'n pop shop owners from Nebraska might overlook this crucial step, but certainly no self-respecting webmaster would let that happen in Silicon Valley. Doing so would mean anybody could download the website in one shot, or have access to private documents that shouldn't be public.
And yet, it has. To the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), no less. During a Google search, I stumbled across http://www.vta.org/news/vtacmp. A few years ago, I discovered that doing searches on file extensions plus one or two of the text phrases common to index pages ("parent directory", "index of", and "last modified") yielded some awesome results. Try it yourself and search for mp3s or pdfs.
Cool, huh?
I don't know if the VTA page was intentionally left wide open, but it was, and now I have a collection of over 800 pdf files that run from VTA employee guides to memoranda of the board of directors to every public transportation schedule they produce. I have several maps of Santa Clara county, each one with its layers intact, which means it's fully editable in Adobe Illustrator.
If this wasn't intentional, nobody's caught it for a long time. I first found this page in January.
A couple of other tips for newbie site designers: If you're into freaky stuff, don't put your bookmarks file on your website. Googling "bookmarks.html" along with some bizarre fetish reveals waaaaay too much about too many people. And lastly, kids - just cuz you label a directory "private" does not make it so. I don't care if those pictures are all about your sense of discovery - they don't belong on the Internet. :-)
Happy Googlin' :-)
Poor VTA. They don't pay their IT people very well, so I am not surprised to see this kind of silliness. However, I am surprised they are using Apache. Last time I looked they were nearly 100% Windows.
Nothing you found is private and you could probably obtain it by writing them. But cool on the maps.
cfs
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