flyout menu's

[Moneydr]

Hi, My question is about side pop outs or flyout menus. I was looking at a
plugin for this from pluginlab - is the text in the links readable by the
googlebots? Is there any way to make a flyout menu where the text is readable
by googlebots? I have a vertical nav bar (top to bottom) and I want links to
pop out to the side when the mouse rolls over - any help or advice is
appreciated! THanks!

[danilocelic *TMM*]

Moneydr wrote:

> Hi, My question is about side pop outs or flyout menus. I was looking at a
> plugin for this from pluginlab - is the text in the links readable by the
> googlebots? Is there any way to make a flyout menu where the text is readable
> by googlebots? I have a vertical nav bar (top to bottom) and I want links to
> pop out to the side when the mouse rolls over - any help or advice is
> appreciated! THanks!

Without a link to such a menu we couldn't tell you if tthe pluginlab
menu is readable by a search engine.

There are a number of systems that can make search engine readable
menus, including the built in Show Hide layers.

Maybe take a look at the number of free and comercial offerings at:
[url]http://projectseven.com/extensions/listing.htm[/url]

If you're doing DB work, then maybe this one might be of some use:
[url]http://interakt.ro/Products/Dreamweaver-Extensions/MXCSSDynamicMenus/Overview/[/url]

And if you're not getting into using an extension, then the menus
discussed here may be something you like:
[url]http://ypslideoutmenus.sourceforge.net/[/url]


--
Danilo Celic
| Extending Knowledge Daily : [url]http://CommunityMX.com/[/url]
| Team Macromedia for Dreamweaver : [url]http://macromedia.com/go/team/[/url]

[Moneydr]

THanks a ton for the info. I'm pretty sure the pluginlab vertical flyout menus
have readable text for the googlebots, but I'm pretty much a novice. Here is a
link to their site [url]http://pluginlab.com/home.asp[/url] I viewed the source code, and
if I understand this correctly, those links that drop down are indeed readable
by search spiders. Can you verify I'm correct on this? I appreciate your time
and consideration!

[danilocelic *TMM*]

Moneydr wrote:

> THanks a ton for the info. I'm pretty sure the pluginlab vertical flyout menus
> have readable text for the googlebots, but I'm pretty much a novice. Here is a
> link to their site [url]http://pluginlab.com/home.asp[/url] I viewed the source code, and
> if I understand this correctly, those links that drop down are indeed readable
> by search spiders. Can you verify I'm correct on this? I appreciate your time
> and consideration!

My reading of the source code is that the links are built on the fly via
JavaScript, and as such are likely not to be read by a search engine.You
can test that out by doing a search within the code fo the page for
"Horizontal Menu". That is the first clickable item on the Products menu.

This assumption is based on the thought that the search engine spider
will not execute the page's JavaScript and then check for the code that
is created on the fly. That assumption may not be correct, but it is a
reasonable assumption that many make.

Consider that it is $60 or there abouts, and you can get the same effect
with a little bit of work with the free extensions at ProjectSeven, and
be search engine frinedly rather than search engine not so friendly.


--
Danilo Celic
| Extending Knowledge Daily : [url]http://CommunityMX.com/[/url]
| Team Macromedia for Dreamweaver : [url]http://macromedia.com/go/team/[/url]

[davidlieb]

It depends. If the javascript is kept in an external file (it makes you a .js
file) the google bot won't be able to read it. Otherwise, the google bot can
and will read most javascript links. That's why it can follow rollovers.
However, it's always a good idea to use a menu bar at the bottom of the page
listing all of your homepage links and coded in pure html. That way the SE's
can follow and read the links, and users that don't find the link in your
pulldowns have another chance.

[Moneydr]

Thanks so much for the advice. I think to be safe, I'm going to stick with the
project seven add on. Now my question is how would I go about finding someone
who's well versed in project seven extension to do some work for me? Maybe
I'll try there first. Thanks for all of your help - I was going to get the
pluginlab add on but now that you guys have shown me the light I'm going to use
the project seven stuff. Thanks!

[danilocelic *TMM*]

Moneydr wrote:

> Thanks so much for the advice. I think to be safe, I'm going to stick with the
> project seven add on. Now my question is how would I go about finding someone
> who's well versed in project seven extension to do some work for me? Maybe
> I'll try there first. Thanks for all of your help - I was going to get the
> pluginlab add on but now that you guys have shown me the light I'm going to use
> the project seven stuff. Thanks!

You could post in their NNTP newsgroup. See their support page for
details on that:
[url]http://projectseven.com/support/index.htm[/url]
They may also do such work for clients, but I'm not sure, and maybe they
keep a list of folks that can assist.

Or you could post in the Macromedia Job Postings forum:
[url]http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/categories.cfm?catid=219[/url]

and possibly the Dreamweaver General group:
[url]http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/categories.cfm?catid=189[/url]



--
Danilo Celic
| Extending Knowledge, Daily [url]http://CommunityMX.com/[/url]