Do I need a sitemap page?

S

Susie

I did the google sitemap, thru coffeecup, and submitted it thru coffeecup. I
probably should have gone thru google submit, but didnt think of that till
after I did it thru coffeecup, sigh, now I think its best to leave it alone,
and not submit it twice?

Anyway, do I need an actual sitemap page on my website, that users can see,
with a button link that takes them there?

Thanks so much,
Susie
 
J

Joe Rohn

ET......sitemaps?

Having those is a very good way to have SE's spider throughout your site.
Having at least a link on your homepage to a sitemap is a very good thing to
do for SE's. It cannot hurt and definitely might help..personally I would
recommend that people have them. They are also a great convenience for site
visitors to perhaps find the information they would like to look at more
quickly.

--
Joe

Microsoft MVP FrontPage

FrontPage and Expressions Users Forums:
http://www.timeforweb.com/frontpage
 
S

Susie

That makes sense to me Joe. Do you, or anybody else know of a site I can see
to figure out how to make a sitemap?
Thanks,
Susie
 
C

Chuck Davis

FrontPage Help returned this (pressing the F1 key has never broken
anything):
Create a table of contents or site map
Do one of the following:

Create a table of contents based on the navigation structure

Important This functionality is not available if you connect to a
server that is running Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services.

1.. In Page view, place the insertion point where you want to create
a table of contents.
2.. On the Insert menu, click Web Component.
3.. In the Component type list, click Table of Contents.
4.. In the Choose a table of contents list, click For This Web Site,
and then click Finish.
5.. In the Page URL for starting point of table box, locate and
click the page that you want to use as the starting point for the table of
contents.
The starting point determines which pages are leftmost in the table
of contents. Pages pointed to by hyperlinks on the starting page will be
indented one level in the table of contents.

6.. In the Heading font size list, select the font size you want.
Create a table of contents or site map based on categories

1.. Assign each page that you want to appear in your table of
contents or site map to a category.
1.. In the Folder List, right-click the page that you want to
assign to a category, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu.
2.. Click the Workgroup tab.
3.. In the Available Categories list, click the category that you
want to assign the page to.
If you want to create a new category, click Categories, type the
name of the new category, click Add, and then click OK.

4.. To assign a page to more than one category, repeat steps 1
through 3 for each page.

2.. In Page view, place the insertion point where you want to add
the first category of pages in the table of contents or site map, type a
heading, and then press ENTER.
3.. On the Insert menu, click Web Component.
4.. In the Component type list, click Table of Contents.
5.. In the Choose a table of contents list, click Based on Page
Category, and then click Finish.
6.. In the Choose categories to list files by box, select the check
box next to each page category of that you want to include in your table of
contents or site map.
7.. In the Sort files by box, do one of the following:
a.. To sort the list alphabetically, select Document title.
b.. To sort the list by file dates, select Date last modified.
8.. Under Include the following information, do one or more of the
following:
a.. To include the file modification date, select the Date the
file was last modified check box.
b.. To include comments that have been added to each page in the
list, select the Comments added to the file check box.
9.. Repeat these steps for each additional page category that you
want to include in your table of contents or site map.
Note To view the text on the links, on the File menu, point to
Preview in Browser, and then click the Web browser that you want.
 
S

Susie

Wow, thanks so much Chuck, I will check it out!

Chuck Davis said:
FrontPage Help returned this (pressing the F1 key has never broken
anything):
Create a table of contents or site map
Do one of the following:

Create a table of contents based on the navigation structure

Important This functionality is not available if you connect to a
server that is running Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services.

1.. In Page view, place the insertion point where you want to create
a table of contents.
2.. On the Insert menu, click Web Component.
3.. In the Component type list, click Table of Contents.
4.. In the Choose a table of contents list, click For This Web Site,
and then click Finish.
5.. In the Page URL for starting point of table box, locate and
click the page that you want to use as the starting point for the table of
contents.
The starting point determines which pages are leftmost in the table
of contents. Pages pointed to by hyperlinks on the starting page will be
indented one level in the table of contents.

6.. In the Heading font size list, select the font size you want.
Create a table of contents or site map based on categories

1.. Assign each page that you want to appear in your table of
contents or site map to a category.
1.. In the Folder List, right-click the page that you want to
assign to a category, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu.
2.. Click the Workgroup tab.
3.. In the Available Categories list, click the category that you
want to assign the page to.
If you want to create a new category, click Categories, type the
name of the new category, click Add, and then click OK.

4.. To assign a page to more than one category, repeat steps 1
through 3 for each page.

2.. In Page view, place the insertion point where you want to add
the first category of pages in the table of contents or site map, type a
heading, and then press ENTER.
3.. On the Insert menu, click Web Component.
4.. In the Component type list, click Table of Contents.
5.. In the Choose a table of contents list, click Based on Page
Category, and then click Finish.
6.. In the Choose categories to list files by box, select the check
box next to each page category of that you want to include in your table of
contents or site map.
7.. In the Sort files by box, do one of the following:
a.. To sort the list alphabetically, select Document title.
b.. To sort the list by file dates, select Date last modified.
8.. Under Include the following information, do one or more of the
following:
a.. To include the file modification date, select the Date the
file was last modified check box.
b.. To include comments that have been added to each page in the
list, select the Comments added to the file check box.
9.. Repeat these steps for each additional page category that you
want to include in your table of contents or site map.
Note To view the text on the links, on the File menu, point to
Preview in Browser, and then click the Web browser that you want.
Click to expand...
 
S

Susie

Well, as usual I got confused. So, I did a little editing to my sitemap.html
page, and came up with this, is the code all messed up? It looks nice.
Should I publish it so maybe if someone checks it out, it would be easier to
see?

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"><html>
<head>
<title>R.L. Blair Wood Sculpture Site Map</title>
<style type="text/css">
<!--
.mapsection {font-family: Tahoma;font-size: 12px;}
.mapitem {font-family: Tahoma;font-size: 12px;}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body
bgcolor="#FFFFFF"text="#000000"link="#0000FF"vlink="#800080"alink="#FF0000">

<ul>
<b>R.L. Blair Wood Sculpture Site Map</b>
<ul>
<p>
</p>
<li>About R.L. Blair Sculpture</li>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/index.html"
class="mapitem">Home</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/about-rl-blair.htm"
class="mapitem">About R.L. Blair</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/wood-sculpture-gallery.htm"
class="mapitem">Wood Sculpture Gallery</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/news.htm" class="mapitem">RL Blair
News</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/links.htm"
class="mapitem">Interesting Links</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/contact-us.htm"
class="mapitem">Contact R.L. Blair</a></dt>
<p>
</p>
<li>Bear Sculpture</li>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/bear-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Bear Wood Sculpture</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/bear-signs-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Sign Bears Wood Sculpture</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/bear-hunting-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Hunting Bear Wood Sculpture</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/bear-fishing-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Fishing Bear Wood Sculpture</a></dt>
<p>
</p>
<li>Disney Sculpture</li>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/disney-bears-eagle-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Disney Bear, Eagle and Buffalo Sculpture</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/disney-baseball-bears-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Disney Baseball Players, Mermaid, and Bears Sculpture</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/disney-myths-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Disney Mythological Beliefs Sculpture</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/disney-brother-bear.htm"
class="mapitem">Disney Brother Bear Sculpture</a></dt>
<p>
</p>
<li>Cowboy Sculpture</li>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/western-cowboy-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Western Cowboy Wood Sculpture</a></dt>
<p>
</p>
<li>Indian Sculpture</li>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/indian-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Cigar Store Indian Wood Sculpture</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/indian-santa-fe-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Santa Fe Indian Wood Sculpture</a></dt>
<p>
</p>
<li>Garden Arbor</li>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/garden-arbors.htm"
class="mapitem">Garden Arbors - Tropical Polynesian Hawaii</a></dt>
<p>
</p>
<li>Nautical Sculpture</li>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/fish-mermaid-figurehead.htm"
class="mapitem">Mermaid Figurehead Wood Sculpture</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/fish-angel-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Angel Fish Sculpture</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/fish-dolphin-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Fish, Dolphin, Otters Sculpture</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/fish-mermaid-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Swimming Mermaid Sculpture</a></dt>
<p>
</p>
<li>Spirit Sculpture</li>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/spirit-sculpture-indian-woman.htm"
class="mapitem">Indian woman, Wolf, Bear, Eagle Spirit Sculpture</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/spirit-sculpture-indian-man.htm"
class="mapitem">Indian man, Wolf, Bear, Eagle Spirit Sculpture</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/spirit-sculpture-free.htm"
class="mapitem">Free Me My Brother Spirit Sculpture</a></dt>
<p>
</p>
<li>Tropical Polynesian Sculpture</li>
<dt> <a
href="http://www.rlblair.com/tropical-polynesian-hawaiian-tiki.htm"
class="mapitem">Tropical Polynesian Hawaiian Tiki Wood Sculpture</a></dt>
<p>
</p>
<li>Whimsical Sculpture</li>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/whimsical-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Ugly Sculpture</a></dt>
<p>
</p>
<li>Wild Life Sculpture</li>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/eagle-figurehead-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Eagle Figurehead Wood Sculpture</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/eagle-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Eagle Wood Sculpture</a></dt>
<p>
</p>
<li>Photo Album Sculpture</li>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/photo-album-sculpture.htm"
class="mapitem">Photo Album - Memorable Art in Sculpture</a></dt>
<dt> <a href="http://www.rlblair.com/photo-album-sculpture-2.htm"
class="mapitem">Photo Album - Memorable Art in Sculpture - page 2</a></dt>
<p></p>
</ul>
</body>
</html>
 
T

Trevor L.

Susie said:
Well, as usual I got confused. So, I did a little editing to my
sitemap.html page, and came up with this, is the code all messed up?
It looks nice. Should I publish it so maybe if someone checks it out,
it would be easier to see?
Click to expand...

Susie,
I simply did a cut and paste and opened it and it looks very nice.

I would certainly add this page to your web site

On my site, I have a side menu and my Site Map is one of the entries in it.

However you do it, just make it fairly clear to the visitor how to get to it and it should be fine
 
S

Susie

Hi Trevor:) Thanks so much for looking! I am kinda worried, I did the
validator, the W3C markup, and it didnt like it at all, all kinds of errors.
So, I am practicing with my html, trying to do one with 2 colums, (it looks
nicer that way). Maybe I will get it right. :)
Susie
 
T

Trevor L.

Susie said:
Hi Trevor:) Thanks so much for looking! I am kinda worried, I did
the validator, the W3C markup, and it didnt like it at all, all kinds
of errors. So, I am practicing with my html, trying to do one with 2
colums, (it looks nicer that way). Maybe I will get it right. :)
Susie
Click to expand...

Hi again,

I will check the errors from the validator (maybe tomorrow as it is Sunday evening here and time for some dinner and TV)

There may well be better ways to present it (although as I said it does look nice as it is) but the validation errors aren't always
that important - often the best test is does it work

I'll let you know what I find out
 
S

Susie

Thanks Trevor, I am working on the directions that were posted on how to do
it in fp, and am figureing it out I think! It looks good anyway, lol. When
I am done, I will post it, I would love your opinion.
Thanks,
Susie
 
T

Trevor L.

Susie said:
Thanks Trevor, I am working on the directions that were posted on how
to do it in fp, and am figureing it out I think! It looks good
anyway, lol. When I am done, I will post it, I would love your
opinion.
Thanks,
Susie
Click to expand...

I have had a look at www.rlblair.com/sitemap.html
and validated it through the W3C Validator.

These are the types of errors returned

Error Line 13 column 27: required attribute "ALT" not specified.
<ul><img src="smfolder.gif">&nbsp;<b class="mapsection"><a href="http://www.rlbl
The attribute given above is required for an element that you've used, but you have omitted it. For instance, in most HTML and XHTML
document types the "type" attribute is required on the "script" element and the "alt" attribute is required for the "img" element.

Typical values for type are type="text/css" for <style> and type="text/javascript" for <script>.

?
=============
My comment
There are lots of these. To fix, do a global search and replace
gif">
by
gif" alt="">
=============

Error Line 13 column 27: start tag for "LI" omitted, but its declaration does not permit this.
<ul><img src="smfolder.gif">&nbsp;<b class="mapsection"><a href="http://www.rlbl
?

Error Line 14 column 5: document type does not allow element "DT" here; assuming missing "DL" start-tag.
<dt>&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="smfile.gif">&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rlblair.com/na
?

Error Line 45 column 4: end tag for "DL" omitted, but its declaration does not permit this.
</ul>
You forgot to close a tag, or
you used something inside this tag that was not allowed, and the validator is complaining that the tag should be closed before such
content can be allowed.
The next message, "start tag was here" points to the particular instance of the tag in question); the positional indicator points to
where the validator expected you to close the tag.

?
=============
My comment
The format of an unordered list is
<ul>
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Tea</li>
</ul>
http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_ul.asp
whereas you have
<ul><img src="smfolder.gif">&nbsp;<b class="mapsection"><a href="http://www.rlblair.com/">R.L. Blair Sculpture - Home</a></b>
<dt>.................</dt>
</ul>

This is more like a defintion list, the format of which is
<dl>
<dt>Coffee</dt>
<dd>Black hot drink</dd>
<dt>Milk</dt>
<dd>White cold drink</dd>
</dl>
http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_dt.asp

I think you need to decide which you want (unordered list or definition list) and make appropriate changes

You could try
<dl>
<dt><img src="smfolder.gif">&nbsp;<b class="mapsection"><a href="http://www.rlblair.com/">R.L. Blair Sculpture - Home</a></b></dt>
<dd>.................</dd>
<dd>.................</dd>
</dl>
=============

BTW,
The sitemap page looks quite good as it is, which just shows you don't have to have valid code - browsers will try to interpret code
that is in error, and sometimes the code which W3C says is in error can't be fully corrected anyway.
 
S

Susie

Trevor, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to look at my errors. I
think I have it figured out. I appreciate your suggestions in your next
post, and will take them inot consideration, I plan on changing the order of
my catagories on my gallery page, to match my site map. I am going to keep
them in alphabetical order, (except photo album) seems the easiest, logical
way, since I can't think of a better way.
Thanks so much Trevor!
Susie
 

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