Forum Moderators: open
The site i run has had to get a new menu system in cause the old menu system was basically all in text at the top and getting too long.
We are now using a java drop down type of menu. Reading about google it looks like it follows lnks through and spiders from html links on the pages it comes across...
Will this new java menu basically act as a barrier? Also, the linking for the java menu isnt in full url, its in another style... <snip>
Will using this stop the spidering of my site? So far running a search for the keywords of my site constantly gets it in the number 1 position, either that or in the top 3 and it's various pages that comes up when different variations of keywords are used.
[edited by: Woz at 1:54 am (utc) on Jan. 13, 2003]
[edit reason] no URLs please - TOS#13 [/edit]
MHes, whats the noscript tag do?
Noscript will only be shown if a user is not executing javascript... so they can then still navigate your site if you put all the links in there. With many people now surfing with javascript turned off (stops pop ups) it is sensible to have noscript...BUT... the text within noscript will be read by the spider and the links followed.
No doubt some people will use noscript in order to stuff keywords but if you have a good reason to use it and you do not spam the keywords but put in legitimate text+links you will be fine.
It also means that if someone browser was disabled for java execution and the noscript tag kicked in the menu basically wouldnt fit into the site, i would need to redesign the site again to fit in the noscript menu option...which brings it back to the original problem of having no space to put the old menu in :(
*starts to cry*
There's always space. That's what scroll bars are for.
And there's never enough space, because screens and browser windows are not all the same size. That's why scroll bars are there.
>Just make sure the page doesn't have to scroll BOTH horizontally and vertically. And leave the rest up to your visitors, who probably know how to use scroll bars.
2. Very few people have Javascript disabled. I wouldn't redesign your site for that. Just make sure the menu looks acceptable.
I have heard estimates that 7%-13% of users surf with JS off. And at least on my site 16% of the surfers browse with something other than Internet Explorer.
If you only test your Javascript on IE, then there is a good chance that you have broken your site for the other browsers.
I only use JS when it does not affect the basic functionality of the site. I will use it to make some things a little easier though, like putting the cursor in first text box of my forms.
I almost never use IE, and I can tell you that most of the JS menus out there are broken in any other browser. I have to REALLY want to see a site to be willing to open IE just to look around.
About 10% of the regulars use Opera and another 7% use Linux...
I've dumped the javascrpt menu and went for a simple flash menu instead. That will take care of almost all netscape and IE users and hopefully will work on the other browsers and platforms.
Now i'm confused...
Whether you are using Flash or js, you really need some text links somewhere - if necessary using the noscript tag.
That link text has a real value for SEO - shame to waste it.
Would that do the trick?
Netscape, Opera and most other browsers do support Javascript, but the problem is that most site designers never test their javascript on other browsers.
Microsoft intentionally makes their verson of Javascript behave different than others in the hopes that people will design for their extended version and try to force people to switch to IE.
If you chose to go with anything other than straight HTML, you need to consider that you are going to lose some of your viewers, and you run the risk of losing some of the search engines.
If sites can have millions of pages get indexed and end up with reasonable navigation using HTML, that means there should also be a way that you can do it.
