Cool DHTML Tooltip text and search engine bots

[ChannelDave]

Cool DHTML Tooltip II
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex5/dhtmltooltip2.htm

Hi All!

I'm successfully using (and loving) the Cool DHTML Tooltip II script on my site. However, I've come to read that search engine bots may not be able to read the text that is in the tooltip, because it's being treated as javascript.

1). Is this true? Or, can search engines read the tooltip text in this script?

2). If this IS true, how can I modify this script to change it so search engines can read the text?

You can see how I'm using it currently at: www.channelshirt.com.

And, you can see a crappy CSS version of doing the tooltips at www.channelshirt.com/indextest.html. This code is sucky compared to the Cool DHTML code, but, my understanding is, with this method, text is unobscured from search engines. Just a reference, as I'd much rather use a variation of the Cool DHTML code.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Warmly,

Dave

[ddadmin]

For Google, it's hard to say, though for some other search engines, I reckon the contents of the tooltips won't be indexed, since they are defined inside event handlers (ie: onMouseout/ onMouseover etc). For a surer bet, you may want to try a script like inline HTML Tooltip (http://www.javascriptkit.com/script/script2/htmltooltip.shtml).

[ChannelDave]

Hi, DDadmin!

Thank you so much for your reply.

Your suggestion was a great one. I've tried the inline HTML code, and it works great for what I need. It's not QUITE as slick looking as the DHTML one, (it doesn't stick to the mouse, but is anchored to the link; doesn't have the cool microsoft shadow, etc.) but it accomplished my primary goal of getting the text searchable, and it looks pretty good, overall.

Unless you have any further suggestions to make it look even more awesome, I consider this question solved, thanks to your help!

You can see the work-in-progress on your inline HTML suggestion here (http://www.channelshirt.com/superindex.html), if you're interested.

Thanks again!

Warmly,

Dave