Forum Moderators: open

Message Too Old, No Replies

External Javascript and anchor title attribute

Has anyone seen + or - results for using external JS or anchor titles

         

rodule

12:21 am on Jul 24, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hi,

I have an SEO technique that I would like to test and am interested in whether anyone in this forum has tried this before ( I am sure that this idea is not original ) and what the results were.

1) Using an external javasript library to create the graphical sections of one or more webpages using document.write methods. This would have the effect of removing all the html to mark up the visual sections of the page from the main document

2) Using the title attribute of the <a> tag to include keywords.

Any one?

Thanks in advance

jatar_k

1:07 am on Jul 24, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member



if it has yet to be offered
Welcome to WmW rodule,

there have been a bunch of discussions about titles in <A> tags. I think it was even mentioned that they may even carry a heavier weight than alt text (but I could be lying about that) but for the life of me I can't seem to find those threads in the site search.

As far as the js document.write it is a very interesting method. I wonder what would happen for users who turn off js though. Probably wouldn't work out very well. I also wonder if it would be viewed strangely by engines, if they totally ignore the js it will come out as a text only page and if your nav is graphical it will not find any links to your other pages.

rodule

1:26 am on Jul 24, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hi jatar_k,

Thanks for the welcome.

What I was thinking was that the use of javascript could replace the graphical components that clutter the top of the page. Redundant links and so forth could appear later down the page to catch the non-javascript users and for search engines to recursively index.

You are spot on in thinking that it would be a text only page and then all the emphasis could be placed on document structure and keywords rather than tables and images.

This is really a kludge to get around the buggy implementation of CSS in most browsers - if only they adhered to the standards the content and presentation could be totally separated and these sorts of tricks would not be necessary.

papabaer

3:31 am on Jul 24, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Hello rodule, welcome to Webmaster World!

I actually use CSS to provide visual sections of many pages. The {background:url(some-image-segment.gif);} can be applied to many elements, though I primarily use empty <div>s for this. Some of these "empty" divs contain more significant images (css background property) and as such, I will include a title attribute in the <div>.

The title attribute is legitimate since the image is displayed in the browser window. I am very selective with this technique and am most happy with the results.

I am in fact using CSS more and more to serve images as it saves on page code. I also use the @import rule to reference my CSS files and to keep NN4 from styles it cannot handle.

It is an interesting and useful option. Yes, NN4 users will not see many of the images - but since javascript is not used (12% of surfers browse with javascript disabled on their browsers), and all the modern browsers will render the css as supplied (unless css is turned off - Opera option) I find this a more than viable option for my applications.

Title attribute for anchors? Definately, especially when there is not room for a full text link. The title attribute is very useful.

rodule

5:30 am on Jul 24, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



papabaer, that is interesting, I had not considered this technique. Our company provides statistical analysis of webserver log files and our system indicates that only around 5% of all visitors use NN4 (though it seems for some strange reason that a large percentage of our clients seem to use this). This is better than the 12% non-javascript visitors (we don't measure this figure).

Thanks for the tips.

vitaplease

12:14 pm on Jul 24, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



papabaer,

thanks for that insight in "javascript" disables percentage.

Is this from your personal data or from some on-line availabe source?
Is there a way of seeing this in your personal webstats?

papabaer

1:09 pm on Jul 24, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



The "javascript off" percentage [thecounter.com] is widely available at various stat reporting sites. The percentage of surfers with "java-script/off" has been consistant for quite some time.

Typically the percentage hovers around 11-12%, though I wonder how this might change with the growth of browsers such as Opera that allow javascript function to be disabled with a few short keystrokes. I personally leave javascript "disabled" until I find the need for it. I make the choice, not the web page.

NN4 will be around for a while yet: there are niche markets where the move to upgrade is lethargic. Hope looms on the horizon though, this June's Google Zeitgeist showed some very interesting spikes in browser usage: [webmasterworld.com...]

vitaplease

1:26 pm on Jul 24, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



thanks papabaer,

strange I cannot find it on the standard webtrends stats my provider lets me look at.