less jscript is better

[rcjordan]

From another thread in this forum:

Pages with less html and jscript do better in Inktomi - always have.

I'm using js 1.2 stylesheets to hold the code itself. The negative impact seems minimal, but it's really hard to judge. Is it the volume of js code or just the presence of any script tags that causes INK to downgrade a page?

[Brett_Tabke]

I think it is the size of the html code vs the size of the indexed page. Some hold that there is a magic point where Ink considers a page not worthy of indexing unless it has a certain percentage of text vs html on the page. What do people use a search engine for? To find text based information...think about it.

[rcjordan]

re: it is the size of the html code vs the size of the indexed page

Since js stylesheets move the js code OFF the indexed page, and thereby increases the "text to code ratio" on the remaining page that the robot actually visits, the conclusion is that js stylesheets are the better way to go for INK.

[fantomaster]

It certainly applies to external CSS scripts.

[Brett_Tabke]

I've been monitoring pulls to a css page on two domains. I can't detect a single search engine pulling it yet. Has anyone noticed a search engine requesting a css file?

[fantomaster]

Not to date, no. Good news ...

[RealSpices]

AV nabbed and indexed my CSS in December but that's not all that was wierd over there back then.

[Websurfer]

Can some one please elaborate on using Style sheets please and point me in a direction of a tutorial so I may read up on them and learn a little more about them.

[Brett_Tabke]

W3C page on Cascading Style Sheets. (css was authored by Håkon Wium Lie - Cheif Technology Officer for Opera Software - the browser people).

CSS is a method of adding simple font and layout information to a html document. You can put CSS definitions in a 'css' file that browsers will then download and use when they visit a page.

What we were referring to, was using CSS tags to make text invisible to people but visible to spiders - a cheap pseudo cloaking trick.

[mark roach]

Slurp.so/1.0 took my css file yesterday. Should we be starting to get worried ?

[tedster]

I am beginning to -- of course, I have no idea what Inktomi is up to anyway, so I've stopped giving attention to slurp's activities for the time being.

If the SEs do start looking at the css files (and I've been feeling that it's just a matter of time) a lot will depend on exactly what they look for.

I don't use .css files to do underhanded things like making invisible text, which I assume would be a primary target. But I occasionally format my H tags in a way that might fall on the wrong side of an algorithm. It's not that I'm actually doing anything devious, but robots don't make value judgements, so I'm worried.

I could switch the code to JavaScript stylesheets, but I'd lose some compatibility. If the SEs really start looking at .css files, then .js files can't be far behind anyway.

[Brett_Tabke]

Mark, which ip was it run from? There is one IP that I wonder if it isn't a human viewer.

[mark roach]

It came from 216.35.116.44 .
It was the only request from this IP all day.

[Brett_Tabke]

Thanks, that isn't the one I was hoping for - so that is not good news.

[lizzie]

Could someone please name the search engines that
use Inktomi? Google, Yahoo, Hotbot, and...?

[tedster]

Hi lizzie,

Here's a link to the Inktomi page [inktomi.com] where they list their partners. In July this year, Yahoo switched from Inktomi to Google for their non-directory results. And no, Google does not use Inktomi -- they're two very different camps.

The players and affiliations keep changing at a dizzying pace, and they watch each other's work and perhaps "borrow" from each other as well ... so it's good to spread yourself around. I once got a great listing in AltaVista for a site they originally wouldn't even index directly, after I bought a number one position on GoTo.

[lizzie]

Thanks Tedster!
So what is MSN and AOL?
It is very strange that Yahoo would
give up Inktomi--it reminds me of the Coca-Cola
marketing disaster when they changed the old coke.

[mark roach]

My style sheet has now been listed in Hotbot.

[hotbot.lycos.com ]

If only I had known, I would have optimised it :)

[NFFC]

I've moved to external css and robots.txt the folder and file. In addition I now make sure that any tags that I define a style for follow the general structure of HTML, i.e. H1 text bigger than H2 etc in hope that a human review of the page would pass muster.

I still can't quite kick the habit of defining <b> as normal weight though. ;)

[lizzie]

Hi Mark, what was that page for that you made
and why did it open Dreamweaver for me?
Freaked me out!

[Hotrodder]

well I'll be...

Hotbot got mine too.

http://hotbot.lycos.com/?MT=hotrodding+style&DC=100&DE=2&Domain=www.hotrodding.net&TR=1&RD=DM&x=31&y=6 [hotbot.lycos.com]

[tedster]

>>I still can't quite kick the habit of defining <b> as normal weight though. ;)

LOL. What could you possibly be talking about? I would never have dreamed of such a thing!

[oilman]

lizzie - css stands for Cascading Style Sheet. Essentially it an external file that is referenced in the html page. The css file provides various parameters to define how the style of the page is be displayed. You can do stuff like making <h1> tags display as regular size font and other fun stuff.

The reason it launched Dreamweaver is that your PC has DW setup as you web editor. CSS doesn't actually display in a browser so your computer used DW to show it to you.

[drbill]

I sometimes use css files but I serve them from the root on my server. ****No spiders allowed**** Have yet to see a spider there ;)

My experience with JS on pages in INK are BAD. Same page, Same text,Meta tags etc....

page one No JS and it is WAS in the top 10

Page two Yes to JS and it was beaten in to submission (400+ was where I found it)

From these tests I have stopped using JS in my pages that i submit for placement

[Slatz]

Dr.Bill..........External or internal?

[websurfer]

What is the benefit to using CSS to control the way your pages are displayed? Doe sit reduce the amount of HTML on your pages so you have a higher text ratio? What the .js file, what do I need to do to get it working, I have tried and can't seeem to get it to work. What would the code line on your html page look like? Do you create the .js file with something like notepad, upload it to the server and then change the file name extension? Thanks folks for allof your help. :-)

[rcjordan]

see this thread for js info [webmasterworld.com].