Webmaster forum - does active content reduce click through

Author

does active content reduce click through

bobtracey

2006-08-25, 10:45 pm

Hi

I am working on a website for my guesthouse and I have included a
navbar produced in Xara Webstyle 4. When I preview the site the script
in the navbar causes a security warning to pop up asking the viewer to
click to alow active content to run. There is also some blurb about
active content can be harmfull etc etc. What my worry is does this
type of warning put people off continuing to view or are they likely to
move to another site? Some may say just get rid of the nav bar and
have a conventional navbar but I like the drop down menus.

Regards

Beauregard T. Shagnasty

2006-08-25, 10:45 pm

bobtracey wrote:

> I am working on a website for my guesthouse and I have included a
> navbar produced in Xara Webstyle 4.

I'm guessing that is a JavaScript menu. If so, you'll lose about 10% of
your visitors who have JavaScript disabled or stripped by corporate
firewalls, and all of the search engine bots. Do you want to risk that?

> When I preview the site the script in the navbar causes a security
> warning to pop up asking the viewer to click to alow active content
> to run. There is also some blurb about active content can be
> harmfull etc etc. What my worry is does this type of warning put
> people off continuing to view or are they likely to move to another
> site?

Do you have a URL to a page that does what you've described? After a
cursory glance, I can't get anything on the xara.com site to work
reliably.

> Some may say just get rid of the nav bar and have a conventional
> navbar

If you want to keep your visitors and search engines ...

> but I like the drop down menus.

Make a CSS menu then, with dropdowns.

--
-bts
-Motorcycles defy gravity; cars just suck.

Matt Probert

2006-08-26, 6:31 am

On 25 Aug 2006 10:59:04 -0700, "bobtracey" <bobtracey@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>I am working on a website for my guesthouse and I have included a
>navbar produced in Xara Webstyle 4. When I preview the site the script
>in the navbar causes a security warning to pop up asking the viewer to
>click to alow active content to run. There is also some blurb about
>active content can be harmfull etc etc. What my worry is does this
>type of warning put people off continuing to view or are they likely to
>move to another site? Some may say just get rid of the nav bar and
>have a conventional navbar but I like the drop down menus.

What is the purpose of the web site? Is it to a work of art that you
feel proud of, and wish to display? or is it a commercial venture to
promote a business, increasing residency at your guesthouse?

If it's a business web site, ask yourself what will attract the most
business, will it be clever, aesthetically pleasing features, or will
it be simple, minimal click features that allow potential customers to
rapidly find answers to their pre-sales questions, and place
orders/bookings quickly and easily?

Matt

--
A comprehensive who's who of the world's mythologies.

http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/mythology.htm

blanketyblankman@gmail.com

2006-08-26, 6:31 am

Beauregard T. Shagnasty wrote:
> bobtracey wrote:
>
>
> I'm guessing that is a JavaScript menu. If so, you'll lose about 10% of
> your visitors who have JavaScript disabled or stripped by corporate
> firewalls, and all of the search engine bots. Do you want to risk that?
Wouldn't <noscript> work just as well? It could have the detailed,
fancy dhtml menu for people who have JS, and a simpler html+css menu
for others

More development, but then it maintains the menu (which the OP likes)
and still work for non-JS visitors.

I don't think that would stop IE's active content warning, though...