Chat Session 

Conducted for Students of the
Academy of Web Specialists 

Led by Giorgio Volpe

Academy of Web Specialists

Take search engine marketing training!

Wed Jan 22 09:04:04 gvolpe CSS means Cascading Stile Sheets. They let
us organize many aspect of our website in a single file
Wed Jan 22 09:04:56 gvolpe font, type, size, color of the text
Wed Jan 22 09:05:12 gvolpe and many other elements
Wed Jan 22 09:07:15 gvvolpe with CSS we can "clean" the source code of
our page and give more relevance to the text
Wed Jan 22 09:08:31 gvvolpe Instead of repeating tags over and over
again, we can define them in our CSS and call the with a single attribute class
Wed Jan 22 09:08:41 gvvolpe Example
Wed Jan 22 09:09:42 gvvolpe instead of repeating the tags: <p align=
"justify"><font face ="xxx" size="x" color="xx"> etc etc
Wed Jan 22 09:10:09 gvvolpe ups, noway to put code in the chat :)
Wed Jan 22 09:10:28 gvvolpe go on Frisco
Wed Jan 22 09:10:40 frisco leave off the > at the end, and code works
somewhat
Wed Jan 22 09:10:49 gvvolpe thank you
Wed Jan 22 09:11:21 gvvolpe <p align=justify font face="verdana"
size="4" etc...
Wed Jan 22 09:11:48 gvvolpe can be associated in the CSS and recalled
with a single attribute
Wed Jan 22 09:12:09 gvvolpe the same line will become: <p
class=ourstyle>
Wed Jan 22 09:12:17 gvvolpe <p class=ourstile
Wed Jan 22 09:12:42 gvvolpe CSS have been used to trick the engine
Wed Jan 22 09:13:16 gvvolpe all the instructions are contained in a
file .css that can be excluded from spidering through the robots.txt file
Wed Jan 22 09:13:37 gvvolpe so you might use CSS to hide text
Wed Jan 22 09:14:21 gvvolpe but I suggest you use caution, because it
can be dangerous. Google has recently said once again that hidden text/links are not
tolerated
Wed Jan 22 09:14:32 gvvolpe and that websites that use this methods
will be penalized
Wed Jan 22 09:15:44 gvvolpe The point is that CSS can reduce the size
of a webpage and help us give the spiders what they want: good, clean and textful html
Wed Jan 22 09:16:26 gvvolpe Another example: you all know that tables
can cause some problems
Wed Jan 22 09:16:54 gvvolpe since the spiders "read" the source code
from the line 1 to the last one
Wed Jan 22 09:17:54 gvvolpe if you create a table with a menu on top or
on the left, the spider will "find" the TEXT under many lines of code
Wed Jan 22 09:18:26 gvvolpe CSS (and layers) help solve this problem
Wed Jan 22 09:19:00 gvvolpe if we use a table to organize the text in a
delimited area, CSS can be a solution: through them, we can define the area where
Wed Jan 22 09:19:19 gvvolpe the text must be displayed without adding
table tags
Wed Jan 22 09:19:27 gvvolpe or we can use layers
Wed Jan 22 09:20:03 gvvolpe Layers are quite similat to tables, but a
bit more usefull for the SEO
Wed Jan 22 09:21:09 gvvolpe layers are "areas" where we can put text,
imagis of anything else: we define the size of this areas
Wed Jan 22 09:21:24 gvvolpe and the exact coordinates where this area
must be displayed
Wed Jan 22 09:21:59 gvvolpe the good thing is that we can define a
layer that appears on the top of the page....at the last line of our source code
Wed Jan 22 09:22:23 simone {enters}
Wed Jan 22 09:22:42 gvvolpe so, for example, if we want to put a logo
of a sort of graphic header we don't have to use tables and "push" donw the body text, but
Wed Jan 22 09:23:06 gvvolpe because we can use layers and preserve the
relevance of our important keywords
Wed Jan 22 09:23:22 gvvolpe Also layers have been used to trick the
engines
Wed Jan 22 09:24:12 gvvolpe you can create hidden layers or put them
"out of the screen"
Wed Jan 22 09:24:46 gvvolpe regarding this use of layer: be very
carefull
Wed Jan 22 09:25:10 gvvolpe Any question?
Wed Jan 22 09:25:20 gvvolpe Does all this make sense to you?
Wed Jan 22 09:26:38 claycotton gvvolpe - have you published any
articles on css / layers? I need to study more thoroughly
Wed Jan 22 09:27:40 simone And what about positioning two objects one
over the other with layers?
Wed Jan 22 09:27:50 gvvolpe no, I haven't, but I can give you a good
link
Wed Jan 22 09:27:56 simone For example: a big image over a table with a
H1 and a lot of text
Wed Jan 22 09:28:13 claycotton yes - a good link, please
Wed Jan 22 09:28:20 gvvolpe simone: out there we can find many
"strange" SEO experiment
Wed Jan 22 09:28:30 gvvolpe http://spider-food.net/layers.html
Wed Jan 22 09:28:42 frisco One problem with laying out blocks of text
in very specific positions on the screen is that it doesn't take into account users who
have their font sizes enlarged for any reason
Wed Jan 22 09:28:59 gvvolpe people using layes on layes with text,
links and so on
Wed Jan 22 09:29:35 gvvolpe but I suggest you use them just to "push
up" the body text in your source code
Wed Jan 22 09:29:39 dan I understand there are different CSS.e.g
internal,external so on and son. which Css are you referring to?
Wed Jan 22 09:29:45 gvvolpe frisco: the problem can be avoided with CSS
Wed Jan 22 09:30:47 gvvolpe dan: the only difference between internal
and external css is that.....external are better: you control all the site look from a
single file, plus....you can exclude robots from putting their nose in your css file :)
Wed Jan 22 09:31:18 gvvolpe frisco again: if you set the font size from
CSS, changing the font size from IE won't affect the look
Wed Jan 22 09:31:29 gvvolpe which is good
Wed Jan 22 09:31:48 gvvolpe simone again:
Wed Jan 22 09:32:25 gvvolpe in theory, you can do many thing with
layers. Just think about it as a table that you can hide and or put "outside the screen"
Wed Jan 22 09:33:05 gvvolpe you can also hide all the content of a page
with a big layer (101%)
Wed Jan 22 09:33:59 gvvolpe or you can put text in a layer and give
"negative" coordinates. Example -500 pixel on the left and -500 pixel from the top
Wed Jan 22 09:34:00 travis b. can u suugest any good tutorial sites for
using layers
Wed Jan 22 09:34:02 dan do you know where I can get the css code to
control a site
Wed Jan 22 09:34:16 gvvolpe dan, what html do you use?
Wed Jan 22 09:34:46 gvvolpe html editor
Wed Jan 22 09:34:47 dan frontpage 5
Wed Jan 22 09:35:04 dan w3c
Wed Jan 22 09:35:08 gvvolpe ok I see
Wed Jan 22 09:35:17 gvvolpe just a sec I give another good link
Wed Jan 22 09:35:37 gvvolpe info on css
Wed Jan 22 09:35:39 gvvolpe http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/
Wed Jan 22 09:35:57 simone Yes, "bad things" should'nt be done, but I
used them in a site where the owner wants to use a java menu ...
Wed Jan 22 09:36:13 simone it disabled the possibility to follow links
to the spider, so ...
Wed Jan 22 09:36:28 simone I put a little table with the main links
under the rectangle of the java menu and it worked fine!
Wed Jan 22 09:36:38 gvvolpe a tool to check if your css are correct
Wed Jan 22 09:36:39 gvvolpe http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
Wed Jan 22 09:37:22 gvvolpe I see Simone. Well, these are hidden links
but used to avoid a limit of the spider, which cannot follow link in javascript, so I
guess it's fine.
Wed Jan 22 09:37:40 gvvolpe you could also use text link and then hide
them with css
Wed Jan 22 09:38:25 gvvolpe I don't know how many of you use
Dreamweaver as HTML editor, I use it and I find it really easy to use when editing the css
Wed Jan 22 09:39:20 gvvolpe travis b. just a sec, I think I have a good
link for you, too
Wed Jan 22 09:40:00 travis b. kewl
Wed Jan 22 09:41:08 gvvolpe ups, I cannot find the good link I was
thinking of. But this is still good http://spider-food.net/layers.html
Wed Jan 22 09:42:18 gvvolpe So: using CSS and Layers we can MANAGE our
body text (heading, text, links etc) in a better way, plus we can reduce the size of our
web page
Wed Jan 22 09:42:47 gvvolpe we can also do other things, like
"customize" html tags
Wed Jan 22 09:42:48 travis b. thanks
Wed Jan 22 09:43:14 gvvolpe for example, we might re-define the h3 and
make it look like "paragraph" text
Wed Jan 22 09:44:02 gvvolpe I've been using css and layers for a while
and I can say I'm pretty satisfied
Wed Jan 22 09:44:44 gvvolpe but....if I had to hide text or links I
would certainly use css
Wed Jan 22 09:45:17 gvvolpe I'll tell you something: I always try to
put out of the page everything that is not text: javascript, css
Wed Jan 22 09:45:46 gvvolpe doing so, I can also decide if the spiders
CAN or CANNOT "see" what I put in these files
Wed Jan 22 09:46:47 gvvolpe I'm not suggesting you use css to fool the
engine, but if you have a problem like Simone had with his website, you'll be able to
solve it withour risking
Wed Jan 22 09:47:48 gvvolpe Please, if you have any question, just go
for it :)
Wed Jan 22 09:48:48 dan so you use the external file?
Wed Jan 22 09:49:11 gvvolpe yes, then I add a link on each page, like
this: <link rel="stylesheet" href="css.css" type="text/css"
Wed Jan 22 09:49:46 gvvolpe and if one day I want to change the font
face of the whole website...I only edit ONE LINE of my css file
Wed Jan 22 09:50:05 gvvolpe cool isn't it?
Wed Jan 22 09:50:06 cameron sweet
Wed Jan 22 09:50:30 cameron what editor do you commonly use?
Wed Jan 22 09:50:35 dan you said like this . like what
Wed Jan 22 09:51:31 gvvvolpe <link rel="stylesheet" href="css.css"
type="text/css"
Wed Jan 22 09:52:15 dan where are you?
Wed Jan 22 09:52:21 gvvvolpe Italy :)
Wed Jan 22 09:52:31 cameron it's the chat client
Wed Jan 22 09:52:41 50belowseo {leaves}
Wed Jan 22 09:53:03 simone No, it's Telecom Italia ;-)
Wed Jan 22 09:53:08 gvvvolpe hehe
Wed Jan 22 09:53:16 gvvvolpe no, I guess it's Win XP :O))
Wed Jan 22 09:53:32 gvvvolpe simone are you Italian?
Wed Jan 22 09:53:44 simone Yes, from Mantova
Wed Jan 22 09:53:51 burgwald what ftp do you use
Wed Jan 22 09:54:01 gvvvolpe good. Do you attend any  Academy's course
Wed Jan 22 09:54:28 simone Yes the Advance with CEU, it's my first day
Wed Jan 22 09:54:30 gvvvolpe Burgwald I use WS Ftp - if you mean ftp
client
Wed Jan 22 09:54:59 gvvvolpe Good Simone, you won't regret it!!! Keep
in touch
Wed Jan 22 09:55:30 burgwald I cant get it to work on xp pro
Wed Jan 22 09:55:40 dan the "v" are getting more and more on your ID.
Is it from telephono of italia
Wed Jan 22 09:55:42 gvvvolpe gosh
Wed Jan 22 09:56:02 gvvvolpe dan, I put a v to enter again
Wed Jan 22 09:56:07 frisco 3D-FTP is good and fast, don't know about XP
though
Wed Jan 22 09:56:19 gvvvolpe if I put the same nick the chat sw tells
me the nick is already in use :)
Wed Jan 22 09:56:45 gvvvolpe burgwald: I have tried cute ftp and WS ftp
with Xp home => good
Wed Jan 22 09:57:11 gvvvolpe I have no experience with Pro, but I can
give it a try tomorrow. Our server runs on Xp pro
Wed Jan 22 09:57:57 simone People from Planet Ocean suggest also to use
one layer over the other when we have text in Flash. Do you think it is dangerous?
Wed Jan 22 09:57:58 burgwald send me results at burgwaldc
Wed Jan 22 09:58:45 gvvvolpe No. I think that's an example of a
legitimate use of "tricks"
Wed Jan 22 09:59:05 gvvvolpe But perhaps I would use css :)
Wed Jan 22 10:00:01 gvvvolpe ok guys, time's up.