Googlebot's interaction with javascrip Javascript

Looking for info on whether I made a major mistake or not

[ir8Rtist]

My navigation bar code is a little unusual. Rather than using href statements, I simply check of the mouse status (either mousover, mouseout, or onclick) and use that as the way to get from page to page.

Is this really bad? I never considered whether or not Googlebot will see my linked pages or not. I do have a link on my homepage that goes to a sitemap with standard hrefs to each page on the site, but would the javascript's be harming my PR and rankings?

[Birdman]

If you have a good sitemap, you should be okay but I try to avoid javascript menus at all costs. That's just me :)

Try looking for you pages in the index unless they are too new.

[ir8Rtist]

What would you consider too new?

I put the website up in April. It was actually a redesign, but I totally revamped the architecture so now Google has a bunch of nonexistent page listings.

Approximately how long does it take for Google to see the old pages no longer exist and removes them? I'm beginning to think the dead pages are harming my PR and my rankings.

[Birdman]

>>Approximately how long does it take for Google to see the old pages no longer exist and removes them?

It could take up two months but things are changing at Google, so there's no telling how long it should/would take.

>>I'm beginning to think the dead pages are harming my PR and my rankings.

They are definately hurting you because you are missing alot of traffic to the dead links...unless, you have taken appropriate actions like a custom 404 page or redirects. If you haven't done that, I would strongly recommend doing so.

[Symbios]

I thought there was a penalty for mouseover links for affiliate links, could be a risk in using mouseover links, any thoughts on this?