NAV Buttons on Home Page...So Close Yet So Far

[Charles Bastari]

This issue has become more than just a matter of aesthetics. In my readings of everything I can find about SEO I happened upon the following in one of the posts in the community:

[QUOTE=olderscot]You have to publish your sitemap within actinic and have a link to it from your homepage. Search engine spiders will not reliably follow links into your site that go via the cgi-bin.

My first search engine registration occurs on 01/15. As I'm knocking heads with the big boys in the business, I'm trying to give myself the best lousy chance possible to get a decent ranking by the search engines over a period of time. For the life of me I can't understand why the NAV buttons don't appear automatically in the top bar on the home page as they do on every other page in the catalog!

Bill was kind enough to post this after my previous query on this topic:

[QUOTE=wjcampbe]To get your links along the top of the page, look for this bit of code in your Act_BrochurePrimary.html template file

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr> <td height="26" background="acatalog/top_bar.gif">&nbsp;</td></tr></table>

and replace the   with the NETQUOTEVARs for the individual links you want (NETQUOTEVAR:NAVBSITEMAP for example).

I'm using the Best Seller template. I found similar code to Bill's in Template Manager | Brochure Tab | Primary
<td><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td height="26" background="top_bar.gif">&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
</table> </td>

(Mine reads 'background="top_bar.gif", not "background=acatalog/top_bar.gif")
Am I in the wrong place?


Then I found this in Template Manager | Main Tab | Primary:
<td background="top_bar.gif"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td width="168" height="26">NETQUOTEVAR:NAVBSITEMAP</td>
<td width="167">NETQUOTEVAR:NAVBMAIL</td>
<td width="168">NETQUOTEVAR:NAVBINFO</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
I'm assuming these are the NETQUOTEVARS I'm looking for, but I'm very unsure as to how to paste them into the home page code correctly.

Can anyone put all this together and advise me as to which page and where? I'm as lost as ever with regard to code.

Regards,
Charles
www.supplyspecialties.biz

[wjcampbe]

Make the Brochure tab Primary read like this

<td><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td height="26" background="top_bar.gif">&nbsp;</td>
<td width="168" height="26">NETQUOTEVAR:NAVBSITEMAP</td>
<td width="167">NETQUOTEVAR:NAVBMAIL</td>
<td width="168">NETQUOTEVAR:NAVBINFO</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
</table> </td>

and see how that looks

[Charles Bastari]

Bill,

Thank you as always.

The NAV Buttons are appearing on the home page, but they are aligned to the right end of the bar. Also, whereas the buttons are to the right end of the bar, the left end of the bar has moved left off the left side of the page.

How do I make the buttons align left? I believe the one fix will correct both the problems.

Charles

[wjcampbe]

You are correct Charles.
Because the topbar.gif is dimensioned to the full page width, it is being pushed left by the menu items. The solution is reasonably elegant.

<td><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td height="26" background="top_bar.gif">&nbsp;</td></tr>
<tr><td width="168" height="26">NETQUOTEVAR:NAVBSITEMAP</td>
<td width="167">NETQUOTEVAR:NAVBMAIL</td>
<td width="168">NETQUOTEVAR:NAVBINFO</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
</table> </td>

The </tr> added after the space closes the current row. This returns the coloured bar to the settings it had before. The <tr> before the first menu item opens a new row to contain the menu items, which will now be left aligned.

[Charles Bastari]

Close. The NAV buttons are now aligned left, but the remaining right end portion of the bar has moved up a line and is now aligned left. Or maybe everything else moved down and left this portion. I checked it in 'page preview' and 'offline preview'

This is a copy of the code as it now appears....

<td><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td height="26" background="top_bar.gif">&nbsp;</td></tr>
<tr><td width="168" height="26">NETQUOTEVAR:NAVBSITEMAP</td>
<td width="167">NETQUOTEVAR:NAVBMAIL</td>
<td width="168">NETQUOTEVAR:NAVBINFO</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
</table> </td>

As an experiment, I took the </tr> off. Nothing changed. I put it back and took off the <tr> and nothing changed. I even switched </td></tr>. No difference. So either or both <tr> and </tr> placed as they are now seem to have the same affect on the way the buttons and the bar appear.

Charles

[wjcampbe]

Charles, the </tr><tr> have the same effect in html as a line feed/carriage return pair on a printed page (i.e. they move the following content to a new line - in this case a new row in the table). We could break the content out into seperate tables by adding </table><table width="100%"> between the tr pair, but this seems excessive. Can you upload the changed code to the website, at least long enough for me to see the effect you are describing, because logic says this should not be happening. If I can see the actual source code as it is uploaded, maybe I can spot the problem.

[Charles Bastari]

Site is uploaded.

Sorry for the delay. I've added a lot of data, keywords, meta descriptions, etc.
since last upload. It took awhile.

[wjcampbe]

Thanks Charles,

Now I understand what is happening. We unfortunately have a table with six cells, three in row one (two are blank) and three in row two.

Best solution is to go this way

<td><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td width="168" height="26">NETQUOTEVAR:NAVBSITEMAP</td>
<td width="167">NETQUOTEVAR:NAVBMAIL</td>
<td width="168">NETQUOTEVAR:NAVBINFO</td>
<td width="100%" height="26" background="top_bar.gif">&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
</table> </td>

That will bring it all back into one line, with the menu to the left.

[Charles Bastari]

You are the CodeMeister. It looks so much better now. And if olderscot is correct, it will help with the search engines.

The site is done. Efforts now can be focused on keeping it updated and dealing with the functionality of the software.

I'm betting that a lot of people are going to benefit from this thread.

Thank you Bill.

All My Best,
Charles

[wjcampbe]

You are the CodeMeister.

No, the Meister would have got it right first time, though it was much easier once I saw the end effect.

Glad you are working.