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Can somebody please point me in the direction of here it says on the Yahoo website that sites that are submitted must function without Javascript navs in order to be accepted.
My boss is having a hard time accepting that Yahoo has this criteria in its acceptance policy.
Rusky
It may not be in their TOS, but if a Yahoo editor visits your site with JS disabled, and can't get past the home page, I'd bet your odds of being accepted just plummeted to approx. 0.
I'd stick with no JS for the submit and "fix it" later.
As has been rightly pointed out to me in other threads, if you exclusively use Java navs and other 'non-standard' enhancements you should also provide redirects to 'plain pages' However, where something like a nav bar is key to a company's corporate ID or branding, or the Java navigation is an intrinsic part of the site structure, I really do not feel this is realistic. Maybe the site just wants to do something 'different' to the norm?
IMHO Yahoo is becoming a bit like 'King Canute'; sitting on their throne trying to stop the advancing waves of progress coming to their shore.
What will they do next?
Reject sites that use video clips because a particular plug-in is required?
Reject sites which will begin to stream video or MP3 because a broadband connection is required to view them?
Set a minimum level of a 14.4k modem or a minimum chip speed to view all sites in case someone subjectively finds a site 'too slow'?
How about e-commerce sites that rely on Java or set a browser threshold for effective use?
If I go to a site and find features which I cannot easily view, or do not wish to change a browser setting or download a plug-in, I leave. If I feel its important enough I download or change my settings.
The 'loss' is to site owner and to me. I do not think any less of the resource that refered me to the site ie. Yahoo.
Yes Yahoo is still crucial. But if they continue to operate this draconian policy their directory will reject many sites (at $199/£199 a throw) I believe they will become far less important.
As pointed out by honourable members in other threads, it is not for 'us' to defend their policies here, so maybe the only way it to start to lobby and see what happens?
But for the time beeing, it is less risky to abide by those policies for the benefit of our clients. Glengara informed us of using the <NOSCRIPT> tag. That is a very good solution to offer an HTML alternative to JS navigation menus. The tag will offer alternate content if some script is not executed for some reason. Not only this tag will will give you more chances to get includes in Y! if you use JS nav menu but it will facilitate spider crawling and make your site usable for those 6 to 8 % of visitors surfing without JS.
On top of those advantages, it is less work to produce sitewide and less risky than a JS redirect. I offered in some previous treads the JS redirect solution. I was wrong. That was before I knew about the <NOSCRIPT> tag.
The most "honorable members" of WebmasterWorld are not necessarely the ones with most posts, but the ones with most usefull posts.
Cheers!
I would like to see them explain that one.
It would be interesting to discover how it was allowed in ?????
The point is that Y! is not consistent with theire policies.
Maybe this site was 'allowed in' by an editor with some foresight that realises that this accurately reflects the company's branding, corporate ID and position in the industry together with some clearly presented, well designed content. (I hasten to add I have no connection with this site at all). As well as being a Yahoo 'most popular' of course!
I looked at this in both IE5 and Netscape 4.7 and there were no anomolies. Does the use of Java navs on this site really hurt Yahoo's credibility or alienate searchers to the point where they will not use Yahoo? (with tongue firmly in cheek)
As Macguru rightly says, it only becomes 'unfair' when other sites are rejected. IMHO any search resource needs a combination of sites such as this and 'plain vanilla' sites which offers superb content, basically presented and accessible to almost everyone on the web. Especially bearing in mind that Yahoo is a Directory which 'lists' sites, rather than a meta engine which 'collects' data and requires some kind of uniformity in the information it collects.
I think I will email a message to Yahoo to voice my opinion on their submission policies and see if this 'ant' can 'start a boulder rolling'. I won't be holding my breath though - except when I submit a clients site with 'plenty Java'!
Thanks again for the great HTML suggestions.
There is a difference between Java and javascript, my understanding is that XP will not support Java...may as well bow down to Bill Gates now and junk it.
Just want to re-emphasize, Java and Javascript are two very different things. Be sure you're testing for the right one.
