Distributed system

A method of operating a content provision system, said method comprising:

• executing a web server program at said content provision system to serve a content item, which content item includes programming language instructions, to one of more client stations having a display for presentation by the client station to a user, presentation of said content item involving display of one or more hyperlinks on the display of the client station, the programming language instructions included within the content item being executable by the client station, on the occasion of the presentation of said content item on the display of the client station, to cause said client station to:
• i) scan said content item to generate a list of at least references underlying the displayed hyperlinks;
• and
• ii) send at least the references underlying said one or more hyperlinks to the content provision system;
• wherein said programming language instructions include a call to hyperlink checking software executable on said content provision system to check whether the resources to which the references refer meet one or more criteria, and
• the method further comprises notifying said client station that said content item includes deficient hyperlinks whose underlying reference refers to a resource which fails to meet said one or more criteria, said notification being provided to the working memory of the software process executing said received programming language instructions.

A client station for use in a distributed system comprising said client station and a content provision system, said client station including a hardware processor and a display and being arranged in operation to execute a web browser program to:

• i) receive a content item from a web server program executing on the content provision system, the content item including programming language instructions;
• ii) on a display of the client station, render received content with hyperlinks to other content;
• iii) execute the programming language instructions included in the received content item to cause said client station to:
• a) scan said content to extract a list of at least references underlying the displayed hyperlinks;
• and
• b) send the extracted list to said content provision system,
• wherein the client station is configured to:
• receive notification that said content item includes one or more deficient hyperlinks whose underlying reference refers to a resource which fails to meet one or more criteria, the notification being from said content provision system;
• and
• in response to receipt of the notification, display the content item along with an indication of one or more hyperlink faults in said content item.

A method of operating a client station in a distributed system comprising (i) said client station including a hardware processor and a display and configured to execute a web browser program and (ii) a content provision system configured to execute a web server program, said method comprising:

• i) receiving a content item from a web server program executing on the content provision system, the content item including programming language instructions;
• ii) on a display of said client station, rendering received content with hyperlinks to other content;
• and
• iii) executing the programming language instructions included in the content item to cause said client station to:
• a) scan the content item to extract a list of at least references underlying the displayed hyperlinks;
• and
• b) send the extracted list to said content provision system;
• wherein the method further comprises:
• receiving notification in the client station that said content item includes one or more deficient hyperlinks whose underlying reference refers to a resource which fails to meet one or more criteria, the notification being from said content provision system;
• and
• in response to receipt of the notification, displaying the content item along with an indication of one or more hyperlink faults in said content item.