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HED-020 · Behavior

<meta http-equiv="refresh">

Reloads or redirects on its own, counting the seconds at the top of the document.

One of the web's oldest tricks: content="5" reloads the page every five seconds, content="0; url=…" redirects to another address. Sports scoreboards and nineties waiting pages were built on it.

The caveat is about accessibility, and it is serious: a page that moves on its own disorients screen-reader users and runs over slow readers — the WCAG guidelines ask that the user control the timing. To redirect, the right place is the server, with a 301 or 302; to refresh, let the reader ask.

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=/novo-endereco/">
The nineties redirect, still on duty.