Hi, I'm glad you asked!
1. I am using SSI. When I run an html validator, it picks up that
there is more than one head, body etc. Is this a problem when
displaying on different browsers?
This *can* be a display problem in a number of browsers, as well as
cause validation difficulties, but it's easily solved by a simple edit
of the includes. Use your HTML or text editor to remove the extra head
sections and extra body tags. Includes don't have to be full HTML
documents -- partial or modular files are perfectly okay. It's the
final, assembled document that should follow the accepted formatting
standard. You may rename the edited files as .txt files or leave a
.html extention, whichever you prefer. Rewrite the Include statements
with the new file names, if you change them to .txt. With the extra
code removed, you are assured that the code will display correctly
over a wider range of browsers.
2. When I view source of the html with explorer, none of the
meta-tags are showing up. Is this because of the forwarding and does
it affect my search engine ranking?
When you view source in Explorer, you're likely viewing only the
source for one frame, not the entire page. Freeparking uses a device
known as an "invisible frame" for URL forwarding. Freeparking calls
this service URL Masking. The frame, or actually the frameset contains
only the <head> section META tags, including a tag that "forwards" to
your page URL (the one you listed at Freeparking). The invisible
frame source code is most usually not available through the Explorer
View Source function. Imagine the invisible frame is stored behind
your page, so you can only View Source of the page that's "on top".
Google, and most other search engines, do not depend upon META tags
for their ranking algorithms. They are still used by a few smaller
search engines and directories for categorization. The tags within the
invisible frame *are* visible to the search engine spiders.
3. When using anybrowsers.com and viewing the site on different
browsers and sizes everything looks very squashed and overlapping.
Does this mean that the same will apply to other people viewing even
though the screen that I create it on is actually a very small
monitor, and it looks fine on my screen?
I viewed your site using a relatively high resolution (1600X1200).
Yes, the display at anybrowser.com is valid. In NS and Mozilla
particularly, the puzzle and all text take up only about 1/5 of total
space available, in the top left corner of the browser window. The
arrows are superimposed over the puzzle/menu. In IE the puzzle's lower
right, the scroller is lower left, the title upper left, and arrows
upper left.
All of the page dimensions, placement and movement parameters are
specified in pixels, so on a larger monitor, or one with high
resolution, the actual space used for display is quite a bit smaller
than the same display on a lower resolution monitor. Resolving such
display differences, especially with the type of dynamic javascript
you've chosen is quite a challenge. Perhaps a friend or local library
would have a higher resolution monitor that would allow you to see for
yourself the sort of proportional changes required in order to fill up
larger spaces.
4. How can I get a search engine eg. Google to display the text that
I put in my megatags and not that which I type in the boxes at
freeparking.
Using Freeparking for URL redirection, you can't. This class of web
hosting service combines domain hosting (simplified DNS management)
with URL Forwarding. Freeparking uses an application program to create
the invisible frame and redirect your hidden URL into it. As part of
that app, your "real" META tags are parsed (edited) out of the code.
This is part and parcel of Freeparking and other URL forwarding
services. In order to change to only your very own code, including
META tags, you'd need select and transfer your site to a web host that
offers both domain hosting and leased webspace on their own servers
for your use as a package deal. This type of service is known as
virtual hosting, and is available from thousands of web hosts
worldwide.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
********************
Big Nose Bird - Server Side Includes Tutorial
http://www.bignosebird.com/ssi.shtml
URL Forwarding Explained by Various Redirection Services:
Xanga
http://www.xanga.com/about/personalurl/details.asp
Dedicated-Domains
http://www.dedicated-domains.com/web_forwarding.htm
Search Engine Information
Webmaster World
http://www.webmasterworld.com
What Search Engine Spiders See - Spider Simulator
http://www.searchengineworld.com/cgi-bin/sim_spider.cgi
Google Search Terms:
"url forwarding" OR "masked URL" explained
"big nose bird" ssi tutorial
"spider simulator"
If anything I've said is unclear or if you (egads!) discover a broken
link, please let me know. I'll be happy to make it right.
--- larre |
