Hatrack River Forum: Where Webmasters Roam

This is topic Where Webmasters Roam in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by vwiggin (Member # 926) on :

Dear Webmasters,

Which forums do you guys hang out in? Where can I find expert answers to questions such as:

-do drop down menus affect search engine optimization?

-what's the best *free* polling software.

-where can I find professional-grade web templates?

The only forum I know of is searchenginewatch.com, other than that, I'm pretty clueless. [Confused]

[ November 02, 2004, 02:20 PM: Message edited by: vwiggin ]

Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :

There is no such thing as a professional grade web-template.

Drop down menus don't affect search engines at all provided the links in them are standard links and not constructed by javascript.

Really good polling software costs right now, though there is some adequate free stuff (for basic polls with one question).

Posted by vwiggin (Member # 926) on :

Thanks Fugu. [Wave]

You're probably right, I can't find any good web templates. I guess I can't find proefssional grade templates. But where do I find the best templates? (they don't have to be free btw).

Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :

Are you looking for just a template for the look of a page, or a content management system?

Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :

I don't hang around webmaster sites as much as I did when I was learning. Not because I've mastered anything, but because a Google search will usually bring up articles on whatever I need. I like http://www.alistapart.com for css and page design questions, though.

My personal, semi-professional opinions:

Dropdowns affecting search engines: Depends on the type of dropdown. If the links are still in the code somewhere, such as in most DHTML or CSS-driven dropdowns, a search engine spider should still find it. If it's a flash app, they won't.
If you want to be absolutely sure, just add invisible links (hyperlinked transparent 1-pixel gifs) to the bottom of your index page that point to the pages you want indexed.

What's the best *free* polling software - Are you using Perl? ASP? .Net? Cold Fusion? Need to know before Ic an recommend anything. If you can use Perl scripts I've used SurveySays for some fairly professional-looking polls. It's free, configurable, allows for IP blocking, and returns results inside the page it's on (instead of a popup result).
After using free polls for a couple of years we finally found it was worth it to buy one, so we got Absolute Polls for $70. Very nice web interface, extremely easy to use, and it lets you do surveys as well as several different types of polls.

Where can I find professional-grade web templates? - By going to Google and typing in "free web templates". Seriously, that's how I used to. This site has a ton of 'em.

Posted by vwiggin (Member # 926) on :

[Hat]

Tick and CB

I guess Hatrack is where the webmasters roam. [Big Grin]

Tick - Mostly for the look. Right now we are using Movable Type to manage our content. Our current tech guy is proficient in CSS but have no clue in terms of designing a header (which requires html tables) or the overall look and feel of the site.

CB - I think we can support Perl, but currently the most advance thing we use is php. I tried google searches, but I came across a lot of good, but not great, templates. I will give your suggestion a try.

[ November 02, 2004, 02:45 PM: Message edited by: vwiggin ]

Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :

Why does your header require HTML tables? You can do headers in pure CSS, too.

Posted by vwiggin (Member # 926) on :

That's good to know Tom. All my web knowledge depends on what our "tech" guy tells us, and I guess he probably meant he couldn't do it, and not that CSS couldn't do it.

Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :

I don't have anything productive to add. I just wanted to say that since I saw the title of this thread, I've had "Home on the Range" going through my head.

Oh, give me a home-
Where the webmasters roam,
Where the newbs and the oldbies play,
Where seldom is heard an uncontested word,
And the forums are not laggy all day.

Alright, I know it doesn't scan exactly right, but you get the idea. [Wink]

Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :

Well, where do you think all those spin-off forums came from?

Posted by vwiggin (Member # 926) on :

[ROFL]

Posted by vwiggin (Member # 926) on :

The forum fairy?

Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :

oooh vwiggin approaches 1000.

Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :

Wooo... we can't have that now can we.

*avoiding landmarks since 2001* [Cool]

Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :

Tell your tech that a header is just another <DIV>, probably called using a server-side include. [Smile]

If he's using relative positioning on his other <DIV>s, it's literally a matter of seconds to implement one.

IMO, using CSS for headers is considerably easier than tables, especially if you're using layers for your menus.

Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :

I'll try that Tom, thank you. Finally! I get to tell him something.

Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :

In my opinion, the one advantage that tables have over CSS is that they are more likely to display properly across browsers. In order to get CSS to display the same thing in Mozilla/Netscape and IE you always have to do some serious monkeying with your CSS. It drives me nuts.

Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :

International Voting offers free simple polls (one question, you can see examples on the site) and simple surveys. Both look professional and are very moldable to your needs.

They also offer more complicated (don't ask me) services and I'm sure their prices aren't unreasonable.

Posted by Troubadour (Member # 83) on :

Although once you get used to the hacks to make things cross-browser, it becomes a lot easier.

I've become an ardent devotee of using css for layout, it makes my static sites that much quicker to develop and seem to invoke a speed increase on my content managed sites....