Chapter 8: Site Management Tips and Techniques

Article
08/28/2007

Content Analyzer helps you manage your site and solve problems quickly and efficiently by automating many common Web site management tasks. This chapter explains just a few of the ways you can use Content Analyzer to analyze and manage all of the different resource types in your site:

Import usage data to see how others use your site: Analyzing how other people use your site is a crucial part of site management. Usage data gives you important information about how many times particular pages are being accessed ("hit"), and which URLs those hits are coming from.
Remap your site to stay current with changes: Rather than create a new map from scratch every time your site changes, you can quickly remap the site. Remapping lets you keep any customizations you made to the previous map, and gives you information about objects that are new, changed, or orphaned in the site.
Stage your site through its development: If you take your site through various review stages before launching it on the Web, you'll find Content Analyzer invaluable for smoothing those transitions. With one command, you can remap the site and compare it to the previous version.
Launch helper applications to edit source files: Content Analyzer works alongside all the applications you use to create and view a site's resources. For example, if you use Content Analyzer to locate broken links, you can quickly launch your favorite editor application to fix a link.
Check an object's properties: Each object you select in a WebMap has properties associated with it, such as its URL, hyperlink text, name, size, load size, modification date, and so on. The Properties dialog box gives you this kind of information at a glance and lets you add your own annotations to each object.
Work with images and pages: Pages and images are the most common resources in a Web site, and Content Analyzer helps you perform many of the recurring tasks specific to these objects. For example, Content Analyzer makes it easy to check image ALT strings or page load sizes.
Include an HTML index and or table of contents in your site: You might find some of the information Content Analyzer gives you about your site so useful that you'll want to include it as part of the site itself. For example, you could export the Tree view of the map to HTML for a hyperlinked table of contents. Or, you might want to grab the index report from the site reports so you can offer visitors an HTML index of your site's contents.

Topics in this chapter:

A Map--and a Database

Importing Usage Data

Keeping Maps Current

Staging Your Site

Changing the Map's Local Path

Using Helper Applications to Edit or View Source Files

Seeing What Objects Look Like in Multiple Browsers

Checking the Types Of Resources in Your Site

Checking the Explore Status of Objects

Using the Properties Dialog Box to Analyze an Object

Using the Annotations Tab to Track Changes to Your Site

Working with Images

Analyzing Pages

Creating an HTML Index for Your Site

Creating an HTML Table of Contents of Your Site

Getting Statistics about Your Site

Publishing WebMaps of Your Site

Showing or Hiding Individual Objects

Strategies for Making Great Maps of Your Site

A Map--and a Database

A WebMap is a database. It stores information about all the objects and links in your site, such as hyperlink text, hit counts, last modified date, and HTTP status. You can view that information either record-by-record (by looking at the Properties dialog box for individual map objects) or in a list view (in the Search Results and Link Info windows). You can query your WebMap database (using Quick Searches and Custom Search) and then sort the information in the Search Results window. Once you've modified the information in your map, you can use the Remap Site command to maintain the map and keep it in sync with your site.

Using Content Analyzer to manage your site involves several different areas of the program. You'll most often be searching, then focusing on links (via the Link Info window) in and out of the object you select in the Search Results window. You may also be launching helper applications to edit pages or other resources.

This chapter gives you a taste of the various ways you can use Content Analyzer to make your Webmastering life easier. For more examples, particularly about link management, see Chapter 7, "Managing Links." To work through a real-world management session, see our tutorial, "Take Charge of Your Site with Microsoft Content Analyzer."

Importing Usage Data

With the Import Usage Data dialog box (File|Import Usage Data), you can include important information about your site's "extended Web presence" in your WebMap. Analyzing how other people are using your site is a crucial part of your site management, especially if your site is available on the World Wide Web.

Usage data consists of one or both of these types of info:

A tally of the number of times a particular page or other site resource was accessed during a certain time period (often called the hit count).
A list of the URLs from which other Web users are clicking hyperlinks to hit your site (these URLs are called the referrers).

Content Analyzer lets you import usage data from several different sources. The remainder of this section provides more details about how to handle each type of usage log.

Common log. Most Web servers--including IIS, Netscape, NCSA, and Apache--automatically maintain a log of hit counts to every page or other resources in a site. This log is usually called access or transfer. If you import a common log file, you'll be able to see hits on objects in your maps. However, you won't see where the hits came from (the referrer URL), and thus won't see hits on links in the Link Info window.
Referrer log. This is a log showing referring URLs only (usually used in conjunction with the common log file).
Combined log. Some Web servers (such as IIS and Netscape FastTrack) can be configured to produce a combined log file that shows both hit counts and the referrer URLs (pages from which those hits originated).

See the following sections for specific information about how to configure and import log files for the different servers.

Note Usage data applies to a particular time period; it's not cumulative. Thus, if you import your usage data for one two-week period, then import it again two weeks later, you'll get different data. You can use the buttons on the Import Usage Data dialog box to determine what to do with the most current information.

IIS Server Logs

If your site is on an IIS server, you'll need to install the ISAPI Hyper Extended Logging Filter if you want to include both referrers and hit counts in your logs. The Hyper Extended Logging Filter, named hyperext_log.dll, adds the HTTP-REFERER and HTTP-USER-AGENT variables to the standard IIS log file.

To install hyperext_log.dll download

Copy hyperext_log.dll into the IIS install directory on your server.
Run REGEDT32.EXE
Go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \System \CurrentControlSet \Services \W3SCVC \Parameters key.
Edit the "Filter Dlls" by double clicking on it.
Add ,c:\path\to\hyperext_log.dll to the value (including the comma).
Save the value.
Exit REGEDT32.EXE. Your changes will not take effect until you stop and restart the "World Wide Web Publishing Service."

Note Once you've installed hyperext_log.dll, the format of the log file is changed. If you've previously used any log conversion utility that was written to use the original IIS log files (including convlog.exe, which comes with IIS), it will not work on the new log files.

Netscape Server Logs

Netscape servers maintain a common log file that shows how many hits your pages and other site resources have received in a given time period. If you also want to include the referrer URLs in your log file, you need to configure your access log to include a referrer field. To do so:

Go into the server's Admin mode.
Choose Server Status.
Change the name of the current log file (since the server considers it to be in use, and you can't make modifications to an active log file). You might want to call the file combined-access or something similar.
Under Log Preferences, select the HTTP Header, "referer" checkbox.

NCSA and Apache Logs

These servers also maintain a common log file (called access_log), as well as a log that shows referrer URLs (called referer_log). To import both types of information into your WebMap, you'll need to import the logs one at a time, access_log first. Be sure to select the Accumulate Hit Counts button when you import referer_log. See "To Import Usage Data" for step-by-step instructions on importing usage data.

To Import Usage Data

Once you've configured your log files to import, follow these steps to import the information into your WebMap:

Choose Import Usage Data from the File menu.
Type or browse for the file name.
If you want to import both referring URLs and hit counts on objects, make sure the Referrers and Hits button is selected.
If you're only interested in seeing the URLs from which hits originated (but not hit counts on objects), click the Referrers Only button.
If you just want to see the most recent hit counts for pages and other resources in your site, and you've imported any usage data previously, click the Replace Previous button. Any pages or other resources that have been hit will show only the most recent hit count.
If you want to see a cumulative total of all hit counts since you first started importing usage data, click the Accumulate button.
If you'd now like to reset the routes in your map so that the busiest links have most prominence in the hierarchy, select the Set Routes by Hits checkbox. For more information about setting routes, see "Different Ways to Set Routes" in Chapter 5, "All About Routes."

Working with Usage Data

When you import usage information into your map, the pertinent data is automatically attached to objects in your map. For instance, let's say that during the last two weeks, your home page was hit 500 times. Let's also assume that those 500 hits came from 150 different sites. Once you've imported the usage data, the home page object in your map will have this usage information attached to it. (Of course, if other resources in your site have been accessed, there will be usage data information attached to them also.)

Once you have the usage data, there are a number of ways you can use it. For example, you can:

Search for all pages, then sort on Hits. This shows you, ordered from the greatest number to the smallest number, how many hits each page in your site has received.
Still in the Results window, right-click a page with a significant number of hits, then choose Links. Select the InLinks button to see the referring URLs (InLinks), then sort by Referrer. Referrer URLs are shown in blue, since they're offsite.
Export the Link Info to HTML to create your own custom reports, using the File|Export|Link Info command. You can also export the link info to tab-delimited text for inclusion in a database or spreadsheet. For more details, see "Exporting Link Info to HTML or Tab-delimited Text" in Chapter 7, "Managing Links."
Change the structure of your WebMap based on the usage data; you can set main routes based on the links that get the most hits. See "Resetting the Routes" in Chapter 5, "All About Routes," for more information.
Check the Cyberbolic view for the busiest links in your site. They're shown as magenta lines between objects.

Note It's possible that some of the busiest links in your site could be alternate routes. If you don't see magenta lines where you expect to, use the Display Options dialog box (View|Display Options) to turn on the display of alternate routes.

Note There will be a hit count for objects (viewable in the Search Results window) and for links (viewable in the Search Results and Link Info windows), but they're not necessarily the same number. The number of times a particular link to any object is hit might be less than the number of times the object itself is hit, since a particular link to an object is only a subset of the total number of hits that object has received.

For more examples of how to work with your usage data, see "Making the Most of Usage Data" in Chapter 7, "Managing Links."

Keeping Maps Current

Once you've made some changes and corrections to your site, it's a good idea to use the Remap Site command (on the Mapping menu) to make a revised map. That way, you can keep your original WebMap current as a database of objects and links. Rather than creating a new map from scratch, you can quickly regenerate a map and reports for the latest version of your site. Content Analyzer will use the same name for the new map as for the old (and rename the old map to file name.bak.wmp).

When you remap the site, you needn't lose any property annotations (such as notes, or author and date information) you've added to your map, and you can quickly see which areas you've fixed or changed. You can also see revised HTML reports for the site, as well as compare/update reports that show what's new, changed, or orphaned in the latest version of your site.

The Remap Site Command

When you're ready to create a new map of your site, choose Remap Site from the Mapping menu. The Remap Site dialog box appears.

If you leave the default settings as they are, Content Analyzer remaps your site in this way:

Explores the entire site, including all previously explored pages. This allows you to analyze any additions, deletions, or changes you've made to the site.
Re-imports any pertinent META tag data (that is, for author, date, notes and so on) from your site's pages into the Annotations tab of the Properties dialog box. (For details about importing META data and working with annotations, see "Using the Annotations Tab to Track Changes to Your Site.")
Retains all your previous settings for display, labels, and mapping options.
Retains any usage data you've imported into your map.
Generates a results window showing what's new and changed in the latest version of your site.
Closes the previous version of the map and saves the new version with the same name. (The older map is renamed automatically to file name.bak.wmp.)

Changing Remap Options

You use the checkboxes on the Remap Site dialog box to customize the remapping process.

Re-exploration of the Site

As mentioned in the previous section, the Entire Site and Previously Explored Pages checkboxes are selected by default in the Remap Site dialog box. This creates a map that you can use for full analysis of everything you've changed in the site. For instance, if you removed all links on a particular page, that page will show up as a broken (red) in the map, although its previously-linked children will still appear.

If you just want to re-explore all previously explored pages, select the Previously Explored checkbox. This is useful if you want to verify and examine just the pages you've recently changed. Content Analyzer explores the site to exactly the same level and number of pages you explored in the previous version of the map. If you've added any new pages or other resources to an area of your site that was explored in the previous map, those objects appear in the new map (but won't be explored themselves). However, if you add any new resources to an area of your site that was unexplored in the last map, those new objects don't show up in the new map (until you explore that area of the map).

If you want to start over and create a new map from scratch, select the Entire Site checkbox. This creates a brand-new map, regardless of any changes, deletions, or additions you may have made.

If you've added annotations to your map that you want to keep, and/or if you want to retain any mapping options or any label and display option settings that you've made, select the Copy Property Annotations checkbox.

Reporting Options

If you want Content Analyzer to automatically regenerate the standard site reports (summary, index, broken links, and so on), select the Generate Site Reports checkbox. You'll be prompted for the file and directory name.

If you want to see a report of what's new and changed in your site, select the Show "Changed and New Objects" Results Window checkbox. Any objects that have been modified or added to the site will show up in the results window, which is in a column format just like the Search Results window.

If you want to see any objects that have been "orphaned" in the latest version of your site, select the Show "Orphaned Objects" Results Window checkbox. This allows you to remove any extraneous site resources, or (on the other hand) see where you may have inadvertently cut all links to a still-relevant resource.

Other Options

If you want to set routes by the URL hierarchy in your site, select the Set Routes by URL Hierarchy checkbox. If you leave this checkbox cleared, Content Analyzer creates the map in a breadth-first manner. For details about this way of mapping, see "Different Ways to Set Routes" in Chapter 5, "All About Routes."

If you want Content Analyzer to verify the existence of all offsite links, select the Verify Offsite Links checkbox. Be aware, however, that it could take considerably longer to remap the site if you have many links to other sites.

If you want to copy any annotations you've made to the previous map, select the Copy Annotations checkbox. This includes any usage data you've imported into the map.

Note Content Analyzer will copy data on the Annotations tab of the Properties dialog box from the old map to the new map only if you don't have corresponding META tag data in your site (since this data always automatically overwrites anything that may have been manually entered on the Annotations tab). However, the Name annotation for pages is an exception.

If a page contains no META tag data for the Name annotation, Content Analyzer automatically sets the Name annotation to the text of the page's TITLE tag. When you do a remap, an existing Name annotation for a page in the old map will only be copied to the new map if (1) the page currently contains no META data for the Name annotation (2) and the Name and Title fields in the old map have different values.

See "Using META Tag Data in Your Maps" for more information about META tags and annotations.

Comparing and Updating WebMaps

Even though you can use the Remap Site command when you need a new map of your site, there may occasionally be times when you already have two maps that you want to compare to each other. If that's the case, use the Compare and Update command. Like Remap Site, Compare and Update generates results windows for what's new and changed in your site, as well as for what's "orphaned."

As you make changes to your Web site--adding and deleting pages, changing links, and so on--you can remap the site to create a new map, compare it to your old map, and generate reports that tell you what's changed. You can also compare the maps of two similar versions of a site, such as the alpha version of a site and the beta version (see "Staging Your Site"). After generating the reports, you can update the new map with any customizations you created in the old map, and then use the new map as your current, working map. Comparing and updating is particularly useful for comparing a map to a changed site that has been copied to a CD or to another location in the file system, or copied from a file system to the Web (or vice versa).

If you're creating a new map of your site, you'll probably want to keep the customizations of the old map. Perhaps you've swapped main and alternate routes, hidden individual objects, and added annotations to specific objects. In addition to comparing two maps, the Compare and Update command lets you update the new map with the customizations of the old map. When you update a map, all annotations, swapped main and alternate routes, and individually hidden object settings are transferred from the source map to the target map.

To compare and update maps

Open the two maps that you want to compare.
If you're comparing maps of two similar versions of the same site (such as the alpha and beta versions), use the Explore command to explore both maps to the same number of pages and levels.
Choose Compare and Update from the Tools menu or click the Compare and Update button on the Main toolbar. The Compare and Update dialog box appears.
Choose the maps you want to compare in the Source Map and Target Map drop-down lists. Only open maps appear in the lists.

Source WebMap: The map with customizations that you may want to preserve, usually the older of the two maps.

Target WebMap: The map that you may want to update with the source map's customizations, usually the newer of the two maps.
If you want to see reports on the comparison results, select one or both of the options in the Compare area of the dialog box.

Changed and New Objects: Objects in the target map that have changed or were not in the source map. (Note that objects with any property change are reported, including such things as changed MIME types, headlines, load sizes, children, and so on.)

Orphaned Objects: Objects in the source map that weren't found in the target map (orphans).
If you want to update the target map with the customizations of the source map, select Update Annotations from Source WebMap to Target WebMap. If you'd like to see the results of the comparison before deciding whether or not to update the target map, see "Comparing Before Updating" which follows these steps.
Click OK. If you selected either of the Compare options, the appropriate comparison results window appears: the Orphaned Objects window (for the source map) and/or the Changed and New Objects window (for the target map).

Narrowing the Scope of Comparison Results

All orphaned or changed/new objects are included in the comparison results. If you want to narrow the contents of the results window to certain types of objects--for example, just pages--use the Search command to search the results for the particular object types you're interested in (see "Working with Comparison Results").

Comparing Before Updating

Content Analyzer lets you compare two maps first, and then decide whether you want to update the target map. To do so, simply run the Compare and Update command twice. The first time, select one or both of the Generate Reports options and clear Update Annotations from Source WebMap to Target WebMap. If, after checking the comparison results, you decide that you want to update the target map, choose Compare and Update again, clear the two report options and select Update Annotations from Source WebMap to Target WebMap.

Working with Comparison Results

When you compare two WebMaps, the comparison results let you quickly see what's new or changed in your site as well as what's been deleted from the site (orphaned). The results appear in one or two results windows, depending on what information you chose to have reported. These two results windows are:

The Orphaned Objects window
The Changed and New Objects window

The Comparison Results windows work just like Search Results windows: object properties are shown in columns, and you can rearrange, sort, and add or delete properties as you like. See "Working with the Search Results Window" in Chapter 6, "Searching Maps and Creating Custom Reports," for instructions on how to work with results windows. The default column order for the Comparison Results window is:

Label

MIME Type

Modified Date

Size

InLinks

Level

Hits

URL

Each map window can have a single associated results window, displaying either the results of a map comparison or the results of a search. The Orphaned Objects window is associated with the source map, and the Changed and New Objects window is associated with the target map.

You can do many of the things in a results window that you can do in a map window: display an object in your Web browser, view an object's properties, and even search the results to further refine the list of objects. For information, see "Working with the Search Results Window" in Chapter 6, "Searching Maps and Creating Custom Reports."

Exporting comparison results

You can export comparison results exactly as you do the results of a search--as HTML or tab-delimited text. If you use a database or spreadsheet application to track changes in your site, you can export compare and update information as tab-delimited text.

Staging Your Site

Some Webmasters like to keep different versions of their Web site as they take it through the development cycle. There are a variety of ways to stage your site as you develop it, using Content Analyzer to create copies of the site and using maps to compare the different versions.

As one example, suppose you manage a large corporate site, and you have an "alpha" location where contributors can add the resources that they're responsible for. When you're ready to prepare the site to go "live," you can make a final map of the alpha site and make a copy of the site where you'll do your final QA. This is the "beta" copy. After your beta review is completed, and any changes have been incorporated, you can repeat the process (make a final map and copy the site) to create the "live" version of the site.

At some point, you'll be ready to update your site with any new or changed material that the contributors have checked in to the alpha site. Now you can remap the alpha site and compare the new map to the old one to see what's changed, and so on through the beta-to-live process.

The comparison results show you if there are any resources in the old version that are no longer being referenced in the new version (these type of resources are sometimes called orphans), and which objects in the new version are new or have changed (have a different modification date). If Content Analyzer discovers orphaned objects, you can quickly look at each object's properties or double-click the object to display it in your browser for inspection. Doing so helps you determine whether the object doesn't belong in the site anymore or if the link to the object link was accidentally deleted.

Changing the Map's Local Path

When you create a map from a file system, Content Analyzer maintains the local path in your map. If you'll always be using this map for the same file system location, you won't need to change this setting.

However, if you'll be sharing the map with others who have mapped a networked drive to a different drive letter, or if you move your site to a different file system location, you may want to change the local path. That way, you can use the same map, and continue to use helper applications to edit your source files, no matter where your files are located.

To change the map's local path

Choose Mapping Options from the Mapping menu.
On the General tab, enter (or browse for) the new local path in the Local Site Root Directory text box.
Click OK.

Using Helper Applications to Edit or View Source Files

You can launch helper applications that work side-by-side with Content Analyzer. Helper applications include Web browsers and source file editors such as HTML editors, word processors, graphics programs, sound editors, and so on.

You can use browsers as helper applications when you want to check how a site resource looks in different browsers. Just because an HTML page looks good in one browser doesn't mean it'll look good in a different one. Similarly, you can use editors as helper applications to make changes to your resource files. For example, you probably use Content Analyzer to isolate problems in your site, such as broken links. You can select the appropriate page icon in the WebMap and quickly open the source file in the word processor of your choice.

You can configure up to nine helper applications for each type of object in a map. For example, for HTML pages, you could configure a set of helper applications that includes two Web browsers and three different editors. (This would leave you with four more helper applications you could still configure.)

Starting a Helper Application

For each object type, you can start any of the helper applications that you've configured for that object type. For example, if you want to change a graphic image, you can click the appropriate image icon in the WebMap and open the corresponding GIF file in a configured graphics program.

To start a helper application

In the map, select the object that you want to display in a browser or that you want to modify in some way.
Choose Launch Helper App from the Tools menu or from the right-click menu, and choose an application from the submenu.

Content Analyzer starts up the application and loads the correct file in the application. If you've selected a browser application, the object appears in the browser window.

Editing Files from a Web Server

If the map you're working with was initially created using a URL (that is, you mapped a site on a Web server), Content Analyzer can't let you edit the actual source file. In this case, Content Analyzer copies the source file to a temporary file in your Windows default temp directory. After you edit and save the temporary file, you can upload it back to the server.

Configuring Helper Applications

To configure helper applications

Choose Program Options from the View menu.
In the Program Options dialog box, choose the Helpers tab.
In the Object Type list, choose the type of object for which you want to configure a helper application. A list of the currently configured applications for the selected object type appears in the Helper Applications list.
Click Add. The Add Helper Application dialog box appears.
Specify the executable file of the application that you want to configure. You can use the Browse button to select the application.
Click OK to return to the Helpers tab.
In the Menu Text box, type the name as you want it to appear in the Launch Helper App menu (on the Tools menu or the right-click menu).

For example, if you want to use different graphic editors for JPEG and GIF format files, you could list one in the submenu as JPEG Editor and the other as GIF Editor.
In the Parameters box, specify the file information and/or other parameters required by the application.

For a list of file-related variables that you can choose from, click the File Param button. The variable you select will replace the current contents of the Parameters box. If you want it appended to the end of the current contents instead, clear the contents of the Parameters box before adding the variable. For more information on specifying information in the Parameters box, see "Specifying Application Parameters" which follows these steps.
Click Apply or OK.

Specifying Application Parameters

To launch a helper application, Content Analyzer must provide any file information and/or other parameters required by the application. The file-related variables in the File Param list are substituted with the object's actual URL or file name when the application is launched. Content Analyzer displays the URL or file name in the corresponding fields of the Properties dialog box.

URL: is the object's full URL (shown in the General tab of the Properties dialog box; see "Using the Properties Dialog Box to Analyze an Object"). Use the URL parameter if you're configuring a browser application for viewing objects from the Web.
Local Path: is the path to the object's file on the local hard disk, if there is a file. The Local Path parameter is for configuring an editing application. Use it if you mapped a local site (or did a site copy), and the file you want to edit is located in the site's directory structure.
Source Path: is the object's Source Path (shown in the Annotations tab of the Properties dialog box; see "Indicating the Path to an Object's Source File"). The Source Path parameter is for configuring an editing application. Use it if the file you want to edit is not located in the site's directory structure and you specified its path in the Annotations tab (for example, if your site's source pages are Word documents that you converted to HTML before adding them to the site).
Local Path URL / Full URL: is either the object's Local Path expressed as a URL, or the Full URL if no local path is available. Use this parameter if you're configuring a browser application for viewing resources located in the site's directory structure or on the Web.

If some of the files you edit are part of the site's directory structure and some are not, you might want to configure separate helper applications for each situation. For example, you could have two Microsoft Word configurations: "Word with Local Path" (using the Local Path parameter) and "Word with Source Path" (using the Source Path parameter). Both would appear in the Helper Application submenu, and you could choose whichever one was appropriate for the file you want to edit.

In some cases, you might need to use more than one variable for a single helper application. For example, if you're configuring a Bitmap-to-GIF conversion program, you might specify Source Path for the input Bitmap-file information and Local Path for the output GIF-file information.

If your application requires additional information from Content Analyzer in order to start up, you can include those parameters in the Parameter box. See your application's user documentation for details on what is required.

The Default Browser Versus Helper Application Browsers

You can use the General tab of the Program Options dialog box to designate one default browser for viewing the objects in your site (see "Configuring the Default Browser," in Appendix , Appendix A: Content Analyzer Setup). This is the browser that Content Analyzer launches when you double-click a map object. If you want to see how your source files look in a variety of browsers before releasing them to the public, you can configure additional browsers as helper applications.

Indicating the Path to an Object's Source File

An object's source file is the actual file you would edit if you need to make changes. Many Web sites are made up of files that were created in an editor application (for example: Microsoft Word, Quark Express, Adobe Photoshop, Paintshop Pro, and so on) and then converted to HTML and GIF format. Content Analyzer lets you specify the source path for an object in the Annotations tab of the Properties dialog box. If you later launch a helper application to edit the source file, Content Analyzer locates the correct file using the path you specified in the Annotations tab (see "Configuring Helper Applications" in Chapter 8, "Site Management Tips & Techniques").

You can also use the source path annotation to search for files of a certain type (for example, files with .doc in their source path).

To specify an object's source path

Select the object, and choose Object Properties from the View menu or from the right-click menu.
Display the Annotations tab, and specify the path and name of the source file in the Source Path box, for example, c:\siteA\products\ToolA.doc.
Click Apply or OK when you're finished making changes.

Note If you prefer, you can define the source path for pages by using a META tag whose NAME is Source Path; the source path will be automatically imported into the Annotations tab when you map your site. See "Using META Tag Data in Your Maps" for more information about using META tags.

Removing Applications from the Helper Application List

You can remove applications from any object type's Helper App list. You may want to do this if you switch editing tools and no longer use a listed application.

To remove an application from the Helper Application list

Choose Program Options from the View menu. The Program Options dialog box appears.
Select the Helpers tab.
In the Object Type box, choose the type of object for which you want to delete a helper application.
Select the application you want to remove from the Helper Applications list, and click Delete.
Click Apply or OK.

Seeing What Objects Look Like in Multiple Browsers

If you're designing a Web site for the Internet, keep in mind that your site's visitors will be using many different types of browsers. Although you can't test how your site looks in all browsers, you probably want to see how it looks in two or three of the most popular ones. In addition to letting you quickly display map objects in your default browser, Content Analyzer lets you configure additional helper applications. If you configure several browsers as Content Analyzer helper applications, you can quickly view an object in each one. See "Using Helper Applications to Edit or View Source Files" for more information.

Checking the Types Of Resources in Your Site

If you manage a large site, you may want to produce a list of resources that have different object types, for example, application/pdf, image/gif, image/jpeg, and so on. Perhaps you keep a database of information on the types of resources in your site. There are several ways you can use the Search command to produce these types of lists. Once you have the list of objects in the Search Results window, you can bring up the Link Info window to evaluate links coming into any resource, or going out of pages. And you can export the information to HTML or as tab-delimited text for use in a database or spreadsheet.

To search for object types (pages, gateways, images, Internet services, and "other")

In the Search dialog box, choose <all objects of type> in the Field box. The result is a list of all objects of the specified type. When you search for "other" as the object type, the results include all types not specifically listed in the Object Type list: WebMaps, PDF files, Java^TM applets, audio files, and so on.

To search for MIME types (GIF, JPEG, PDF, AIFF, and so on)

In the Search dialog box, choose MIME Type as the Field and then specify the MIME type in the Text String box. The result is a list of objects of that MIME type.

Note If you've mapped a remote site, Java applets and gateways might have incorrect MIME types in the map if the remote server doesn't have them configured correctly. In such a case, the MIME type appears in the map as that server's default type.

To search for source files with a particular file extension

In the Search dialog box, choose Source Path as the Field and then specify the file extension in the Text String box. For example, if you're looking for objects that originated from Microsoft Word, you would search for source files with a .doc extension. Note that only those objects that have the Source File annotation will be located (see "Indicating the Path to an Object's Source File").

Checking the Explore Status of Objects

When Content Analyzer creates a map of your site, it discovers all the resources (up to the page and level limits you've specified), verifies the existence of others, and fully explores only some of them. You may find it useful to learn the explore status of the pages and other resources in your site, so you'll know whether to explore your site further if you need more information about particular resources.

You can see the Explore Status property for the selected object in the Properties dialog box (View|Object Properties). Or, you can view an object's explore status in the Search Results window if you've done a search.

Explored: Content Analyzer retrieved the page from the server and scanned it for tags and links. It displays all the links in the map (with question marks next to them, since the links themselves aren't yet explored). In the map, there is no question mark next to the object, and any children of the page are shown.

Unverified: Content Analyzer discovered a link to the page or other resource, but has not determined if the resource actually exists on the server. In the map, there is a question mark next to the object, and no children are shown.

Verified: Content Analyzer discovered that the page or other resource exists on the server, but did not examine any information on the page (links, tags, and so on). In the map, there is a question mark next to the object, and no children are shown. See "Verifying Links" in Chapter 7, "Managing Links," for more information.

Unavailable: Content Analyzer couldn't find the page or other resource, because it doesn't exist on the server (a 404 error), the server is having technical problems (151), or other reasons. For more information about unavailable resources, see "Determining Why a Link Is Broken" in Chapter 7, "Managing Links."

Blocked by Robot: Content Analyzer couldn't access the page or other resource because of the site's robot exclusion protocol. If this is your own site, you can ignore such robot exclusion protocol when you build a map; see "The General tab" in Chapter 3, "Creating and Customizing WebMaps" for details.

Finding Unverified Resources

You can search for pages or other resources in the map that Content Analyzer has not yet verified. An object appears in the map when a link to it is discovered, but that doesn't mean the object is actually present on the server. Once you've found unverified resources, you can then verify them (using the Mapping|Verify Links command).

To find unverified resources

Set up the search like this:

Search: Entire Map

Object Type: All Objects

Field: Unverified

Modifiers: Equals

Text String: True
Click OK.

The unverified resources are listed in the Search Results window.

Using the Properties Dialog Box to Analyze an Object

The Properties dialog box (View|Object Properties) shows you useful information about any object you select in the WebMap of your site, including the object's URL and local path (if applicable), its MIME type, hyperlink text, link URL, and its status (explored, broken, and so on). There's also a tab that shows you information specific to the object type.

For information about the links going out of and coming into the selected object, see Chapter 7, "Managing Links."

The presence of the Page tab tells you that a page is the object currently selected

You can also use the Properties dialog box to annotate objects with information that you'd like to keep track of. For example, you can give objects descriptive names, specify the responsible person's name or e-mail address, keep track of revision or expiration dates, specify the path to the object's source file, and write notes to yourself. You can either enter the information into the Annotations tab yourself, or let Content Analyzer import any META tags that contain the same information. See "Using META Tag Data in Your Maps" for details.

There are a number of properties not shown in the Properties dialog box that you can search for and see in the Search Results window. See "Search Dialog Box Criteria" in Chapter 6, "Searching Maps and Creating Custom Reports," for a list of all properties maintained by Content Analyzer.

To see information about the currently selected object, you can display the Properties dialog box in one of three ways:

Choose Object Properties from the View menu.
Right-click an object and choose Properties from the menu.
Click the Properties button on the Main toolbar.

The Properties dialog box is dynamic; the properties change as you select different objects in the map. The selected object determines which tabs are available:

The General and Annotations tabs are available for all types of objects
If you select a page, an image, or a gateway object, a corresponding tab appears as the last tab of the dialog box

Using the Annotations Tab to Track Changes to Your Site

Large, busy Web sites tend to change frequently. Content Analyzer gives you several ways to keep track of the changes your site has undergone.

First, as you use a WebMap during the site development phase, you can annotate objects in the map with date information. On the Annotations tab of the Properties dialog box, you'll find a Date field, where you can enter any kind of date you want. You can also use the Private Notes area to keep more detailed revision history information. In addition, the General tab on the Properties dialog box shows an object's most recent modification date.

If you prefer to use META tags to track changes to your site, you can automatically import META tag data into the Annotations tab. You can then view and search for this information. Since many Webmasters track authors and dates via META tags, this is a good way to make sure your site is up-to-date.

Manually Annotating the Map

You can enter information directly into the Annotations tab; you don't have to use META tags at all. However, if there is any chance that you might use META tags (now or in the future) with NAME attributes that have the same name as fields in the Annotations tab (see "Using META Tag Data in Your Maps"), be aware that anything you manually enter in the tab will be overwritten by that META data the next time you map the site, or if you use the Remap Site or Compare and Update command. See "Keeping Maps Current" for more information.

Getting Information about Authors and Dates

If there are many contributing authors to your Web site, you'll want to keep track of who they are with either a name or an e-mail address. That way, if you make changes to the site that affect another author's work, you can notify that person. This is especially useful if your site contains links to other sites on the Web. If you keep the e-mail address of the Webmasters at the other sites, you can notify them if something changes on your site that they might want to know about.

You might also want to keep track of the revision history of the resources in your site. For example, you might want to know the date an object was created, when it expires, when it was checked in, or when a new version is due. There are several object properties available in WebMaps that help you maintain the revision history for individual objects.

To quickly look at all the contributors to your site

You can change the labels in the map to the Author property. For information on setting labels, see "Changing How Objects are Labeled" in Chapter 3, "Creating and Customizing WebMaps."

To find all resources contributed by a particular person

Search for the Author property. In the Search dialog box, specify Author in the Field box and the person's name in the Text String box (see Chapter 6, "Searching Maps and Creating Custom Reports).

To see the modification date of a page

Select the page in the map, and choose Object Properties from the View menu or Properties from the right-click menu. The Properties dialog box appears.
Display the General tab. The Last Modified box shows the selected object's last modification date.

You can search for all pages with a modification date before or after a particular date. You can also compare your current map of the site to a new map and get a report on all changed and new objects.

To add your own dates to an object

Select the page in the map, and choose Object Properties from the View menu or Properties from the right-click menu. The Properties dialog box appears.
Display the Annotations tab, and fill in the Date field with whatever date you want to keep track of.

You can use this field in a number of ways. For example, you could annotate the objects in your site with expiration dates, due dates, original creation dates, and so on. As with the modification date, this is a searchable field; you can search for all pages with a Date annotation before or after a particular date. If you have a META tag whose NAME is Date, its CONTENT value is automatically entered in the Date field.
Click Apply or OK when you're finished making changes.

To create public and private notes

You can add both public and private notes to an object. If you include a published WebMap as part of your site, the public notes give your users additional information about the pages and other objects in the site. People who use your published map can view the notes (in the Properties dialog box) to see if they're interested in browsing a particular object.

Private notes, on the other hand, are for your own use and are not included in published maps. For example, you could use private notes to keep a revision history of a resource, to add reminders to yourself, or to keep track of changes that you need to make. In fact, you can use private notes for any information that you think you'll want to search for later.

To create notes for an object

Select the object in the map, and choose Object Properties from the View menu or Properties from the right-click menu. The Properties dialog box appears.
Display the Annotations tab, and type any information you want in either the Notes field (for public notes) or the Private Notes field.
Click Apply or OK when you're finished making changes.

Using META Tag Data in Your Maps

If you use META tags in your HTML pages, you can also use that data in your maps.

As long as your META tag NAME attributes are exactly the same as the corresponding fields on the Annotations tab of the Properties dialog box, they will be automatically imported into the Annotations tab when you create a map. Your NAME attribute must match these Annotations tab fields:

Name

Source Path

Author

Date (format is determined by your current Windows setting)

Notes

Private Notes

If you have META tag data in your map, you can quickly view and search for the CONTENT data. You can search for, say, all pages whose author is Elmo@microsoft.com, or all pages whose date is before 1/1/97.

For instance, suppose you've got three META tags like this:

The CONTENT data in all three of these META tags will appear in the Annotation tab fields with the same names. Now this information is part of both your site and the map.

Note Content Analyzer can only read your META tag information and insert it into the map. It cannot write any new data you enter in the Annotations tab back to your HTML files. This means that your map and site might get out of sync if you manually enter different information in the map than is contained in the META tags. Also note that if you create a new map of your site, any data you've entered into a field in the Annotations tab will be overwritten by any META tag data that has that same NAME.

Working with Images

There are several ways to get information about images in your site:

Search for images that meet certain criteria--for example, images without ALT strings, or those that are inline.
Once you have a list of images in the Search Results window, you can view information about them (such as hit count, size, or hyperlink text).
In the map or a results window, right-click an image, choose Properties, then view the Image tab to see information (such as the HEIGHT and WIDTH attribute) for the selected image.
Check the General tab on the Properties dialog box to see basic information, such as when the image was last modified, its link URL, and the URL of its parent page.
View information about the pages that point to the image in the Link Info window (select the InLinks button).

The Image Tab

A quick way to get information about the selected image is to first search for all images, then view the Image tab on the Properties dialog box; just right-click any image in the map window or in a results window.

At a glance, you can see this information about the selected image:

MIME type (usually GIF or JPEG)
Any attributes (such as inline, imagemap, and whether server-side or client-side)
Size in bytes
If it's an imagemap, the URL of the .map file that contains information about the clickable regions on the image
Height, width, alignment
ALT string

Turning Server-side Imagemaps into Client-side Imagemaps

If you use a lot of CGI scripts in your site (for imagemaps), you may want to consider changing them to "client-side" imagemaps. Client-side imagemaps don't require mediating CGI scripts; they save processing time on your Web server because the processing is done on the client system. Client-side imagemaps are also preferable when using WebMaps to help manage your site. That's because imagemaps that are mediated by CGI scripts are treated as "dead ends" by Content Analyzer. That is, any links from the imagemap are not shown in the map of your site. All you'll see is an image icon and the CGI script (shown with the gateway icon). Links from client-side imagemaps, on the other hand, are shown in the map as siblings of the imagemap (children of the imagemap's parent page).

Content Analyzer lets you search for all images that are server-side imagemaps. Once found, you can change them to client-side imagemaps.

To change server-side imagemaps into client-side imagemaps

Set up the Custom Search dialog box like this:

Search: Entire Map

Object Type: Images

Field: IMG/ISMAP

Modifiers: Equals

Text String: True

Content Analyzer will find all the server-side imagemaps in your site (those with the ISMAP attribute in the IMG tag). Now you'll want to locate the parent page of each image, so that you can use the USEMAP attribute to change your server-side imagemaps into client-side.
Right-click an image in the Search Results window and choose Links.
Select the Main Route button. This shows you the ancestor pages of the image; the last page in the list is the image's parent page (when they are sorted in descending order by level).
Select the parent page, then click the Follow button to select it in the map.
If you like, launch your helper application to work on the link in the parent page: Right-click the page, then choose Launch Helper App.

For more information about working with the Link Info window, see Chapter 7, "Managing Links."

Checking Image ALT Strings

You should make sure that all images in your site have ALT strings, and that the existing ALT strings correctly identify the images they refer to. ALT strings are important for visitors to your site who don't have a graphical browser or who have turned off graphics downloading. If you simply want a list of images that don't have ALT strings, choose Images Without ALT strings from the Quick Search menu. (See "Quick Searches" in Chapter 6, "Searching Maps and Creating Custom Reports.")

To search for multiple links to an image that use ALT strings inconsistently

Many Webmasters link to the same image--for example, a corporate logo--more than once in their site. If you're one of those people, you probably want the ALT strings in each link to say the same thing every time.

Set up the search like this:

Search: Entire Map

Object Type: Images

Field: IMG/ALT Usage

Modifiers: Is

Text String: Inconsistent

If any images are found, they'll appear in the Search Results window. To fix the ALT strings, you'll want to examine the pages that contain the links to the image.
Right-click an image in the Search Results window, and choose Links.
Select the InLinks button. This shows you all the pages that have links pointing to the image.
Make sure the Hyperlink Text property is shown in the Search Results window. (If it isn't, use the Columns command to add it.)
For images, the Hyperlink Text column shows the ALT string (if any) used in the link to the image. You can quickly check to see which images have ALT strings, and when they do, whether they're appropriate for the image.

Checking Image Size and Alignment

It's a good idea to set a height, width, and alignment for any inline images you include in your site. Most browsers can display all the text on a page before any images are downloaded, as long as the size and alignment for the image are defined. If you don't include the HEIGHT, WIDTH, and ALIGN attributes with the IMG tag, the browser doesn't know how much space to reserve for the image, and so can't display text until it has completely downloaded the image. This can dramatically slow the download performance.

It's easy to check these attributes, because Content Analyzer keeps track of the height, width, and alignment on the Image tab of the Properties dialog box. Just right-click any image to check these attributes.

If you want to find all the images that don't have a height and width defined yet, do this:

In the Search dialog box, set up an And search:

Search: Entire Map

Object Type: Images

Field: IMG/HEIGHT Usage

Modifiers: Is

Value: Absent

AND

Search: Entire Map

Object Type: Images

Field: IMG/WIDTH Usage

Modifiers: Is

Value: Absent
Click OK.

Analyzing Pages

Pages are at the heart of your Web site, and there are lots different angles to view them from:

Right-click a page in the map or in the Search Results window, then view properties of the page in the Properties dialog box.
Check the Page tab in the Properties dialog box to see the title, headings, and load size of the page.
The More Page Info tab gives you information about several of the HTML tags used on the selected page.
View information about the links going into and coming out of the page in the Link Info window.

Getting More Information about HTML Page Tags

Content Analyzer keeps track of many of the tags you've used on your HTML pages. After you've mapped your site, you can check the More Page Info tab on the Properties dialog box to see the tags used on the selected page. You can also search for particular tags to see which pages you've used them on. For example, if you've used a background color on some pages, you'll see BGCOLOR on this tab.

You can also search for pages that contain (or don't contain) particular tags. For example, let's say you want to specify a BASEFONT for every page in your site, but you think you may have forgotten to put the tag on some pages. Here's how you'd set up the Search dialog box:

Search: Entire Map

Object Type: Pages

Field: BASEFONT

Modifiers: Equals

Value: False

For a complete list of all tags and attributes that Content Analyzer keeps track of, see "Search Dialog Box Criteria" in Chapter 6, "Searching Maps and Creating Custom Reports."

Checking Page Load Sizes

To create a user-friendly Web site, you'll want to make sure that pages and images load into the user's browser as quickly as possible. If people have to wait too long to see a page, they might give up and move on to another location. To accommodate a wide range of Internet access configurations, it's a good idea to keep load sizes below a reasonable limit. (Load size is the size of the page plus the size of all inline resources referenced by the page.) The reasonable limit will vary according to the connection speed of your users.

If you want to make sure that there are no pages over a certain load size in your site, you can search for them and view their sizes in the Search Results window. In the following example, we use 80K as the load size limit; substitute a different limit if you like.

To check the load size of your resources

Choose Custom Search from the Tools menu or click the Custom Search button on the Main toolbar.
Set up the Search dialog box as follows:

Search: Entire Map

Object Type: Pages

Field: Load Size (the file size of the page itself plus the sizes of all referenced graphics)

Modifiers: Greater than or Equal to

Value: 80000 (specified in bytes)

If you want to see images that are above a certain size, you can specify Images in the Object Type box and Size in the Field box.
Click Search. The Search Results window shows all pages with a load size greater than or equal to 150K.
If it's not there already, add the Load Size property to the Search Results window (use the Columns dialog box).
Click the Load Size column header to sort by load size.
To examine a page more closely, right-click it, then choose Links.
In the Link Info window, click the column header for the Size property to sort the links by the size of the object they point to. (Usually, a big load size is the result of large inline images, so you can quickly see which links lead to big images.)

Checking Page Titles

Because search engines index the pages in your site by their titles, it's best that each page in your site have a descriptive title. Additionally, browsers such as Internet Explorer let you use page titles in their bookmark lists. As the contents of pages change, you'll probably want to double-check the titles.

To check the titles of pages in your site

Use the Custom Search command on the Tools menu to search for all pages.
Use the Columns command to add Title to the properties shown in the Search Results window. You can now quickly see which pages have titles.
Double-click objects in the Search Results window to display them in your browser. If pages don't have titles, you can decide what to title them. For pages that do have titles, you can check to see if the titles are descriptive of the pages' contents.

Creating an HTML Index for Your Site

One of Content Analyzer's most powerful--and simplest--features is the ability to create a hyperlinked index of all the pages in your site. With one click, you can include this index as a quick reference to your site--for yourself, coworkers, or others who browse your site.

To create an HTML index

If you didn't generate HTML reports when you first mapped your site, do so now: Choose Tools|Generate Site Reports, and specify a name and directory for the reports. After a few moments, the Site Summary Report of your site will appear in your browser.
Click the Index link to display the Page Index.
Now click Publishable Version of this Index. This deletes the page icons in the Page Index (these icons link to other parts of your site reports, which is probably not useful for the index you want to publish with your site).
You can now add this index page to your site.

Creating an HTML Table of Contents of Your Site

You can quickly create a hyperlinked table of contents of your site by exporting the WebMap to HTML. The Export command exports the current view of your map. That way, you can customize exactly what you want to include in the table of contents--which objects are included and how they're labeled. You can include your entire site by exploring and expanding all levels before exporting.

When you export a map as HTML, Content Analyzer automatically displays the new HTML file in your default Web browser. Once the table of contents is generated, you can print it from the browser window or add the HTML code (or the entire file) to your site.

Creating a hyperlinked table of contents of all or some of your site

To create an HTML table of contents

Set up the map window so that it displays exactly what you want to include in the table of contents.

See "Showing or Hiding Types of Objects" in Chapter 3, "Creating and Customizing WebMaps," and "Changing How Objects are Labeled" in Chapter 3, "Creating and Customizing WebMaps," for information about customizing the content of the map window. If you want to print the entire map, you should show all objects, select the home page in the map window, then use the Expand|All command (on the View menu) to expand the entire map.
Choose Export|Tree View from the File menu. The Export dialog box appears.
Choose HTML from the Format drop-down menu.
Use the standard Save dialog box features to specify the name of the HTML file. Content Analyzer suggests the default file extension htm.
Click Save. The HTML table of contents file automatically loads into your default Web browser.

If you like, you can export only certain information to HTML--for example, all broken links. You do this by using the Export command while you're in a results window. See "Exporting Search Results" in Chapter 6, "Searching Maps and Creating Custom Reports," for details.

Getting Statistics about Your Site

When Content Analyzer first explores a site, it gathers such information as the site's URL, and how many pages and other objects were found when Content Analyzer mapped the site. For a quick overview of the site, you can view this data in the Statistics dialog box. All the fields are read-only; you can't edit any of the information.

To display the Statistics dialog box, choose Site Statistics from the View menu or click the Statistics button on the Main toolbar. The Statistics dialog box contains two tabs: General and Object Count.

General Tab

The General tab contains information about the site's server, home page, and CGI directory, and about the map's home page.

Field Name	Description
Domain	The unique name of the server for the mapped site.
Root Path	The directory path to the page from which you began mapping the site, starting from the root of the site.
Home Page	The file name of the page from which you began mapping the site. This is often the site's home page, but could be any page in the site.
CGI Bin Directory	The directory on the server where Common Gateway Interface (CGI) script programs are stored.

Object Count Tab

The Object Count tab displays the number of items in the WebMap: pages, links, images, WebMaps, Java applets, gateways, Internet services, audio or video files, text files, other applications, and any unrecognized MIME types.

Publishing WebMaps of Your Site

If your site is large and has lots of interconnecting links, you might want to publish a map of it. A published map contains only the parts of your site that you choose (for example, you can publish a map without any alternate routes showing), and is compressed for fast loading and easy transmission. You can give your published WebMaps to co-workers on a diskette or by e-mail, or put maps on your department's internal Web server.

There are two approaches you can take when you're ready to publish a map of your site:

You can Choose View|Display Options to set up the display options so that you see how the published version of the map will look.
Or, you can leave the display options as they are and, in the Publish dialog box, select the types of objects you want to include in the published map.

If you're going to publish several versions of the site but don't want to change your display options, it's handy to use the Publish dialog box to specify what gets published.

Before publishing a map, you should read "Strategies for Making Great Maps of Your Site" for tips on preparing maps for publication. For information on what is included in the published version of a map, see "What Gets Saved in a Published Map" at the end of this section.

To publish a WebMap

Open the map you want to publish. (WebMaps have the file extension wmp.)
Choose Publish from the File menu. The Publish dialog box appears.
Specify the path and file name for the published map. Use the Browse button to help determine the path and file name. The wmp extension is appended automatically to the file name.
Decide which types of objects you want to include in the published version of the map. Object types that you don't include are deleted from the published map.

If you previously set up the display options with the object types you want published, notice that the Publish dialog box options are automatically set up to match the current display options. Simply click OK. The map is compressed and saved in your maps directory, with the name you specify.

If you want to set up different publishing options, select Publish All Objects, or select individual object types in the Publish Only list. (Note that "Pages" are not included in the list because they're always published with a map.) If you want to include alternate routes in the published map, you should also select Publish Alternate Routes at the bottom of the dialog box. Then click OK.

Using Customized "Default" Publishing Options

You can set up your own customized publishing options to use over and over again. To do so, use the Publish dialog box to select the object types you want included in your published maps. Before clicking OK, click Save As Default. Now, whenever you want to use your customized options, all you have to do is click Load Default in the Publish dialog box.

Note Until you create your own customized options, clicking Load Default changes the publishing options to the defaults that ship with Content Analyzer. When you save your own defaults, you overwrite these default settings.)

What Gets Saved in a Published Map

Things that are saved in the published version of a WebMap include:

Specified object types in explored regions of the map, regardless of whether the objects are currently visible
Label settings
Display option settings
Public notes

Things that are not saved in the published version of a WebMap include:

Objects filtered out due to the current publishing options
Objects that were individually hidden using the Properties dialog box
These annotations: Private Notes, Source Path, Author, and Date

Showing or Hiding Individual Objects

You can customize a map by hiding individual objects. This is useful when you're preparing to publish a map, because individually hidden objects are not saved with published maps. You can choose to hide all routes to an object in the map--the main route and all alternate routes. Or, you can hide only the alternate routes to an object so that only the main route is showing. Note that you cannot hide just one alternate route to an object; you must hide all or none of them. Also note that when you hide individual objects, they are hidden in both the Tree and Cyberbolic views.

You can hide the main route (and all alternate routes) to one particular object, even if you've included all objects of its type. For example, even though you might have specified that images should be shown, you can hide a particular GIF image (for example, a frequently used navigation icon). When you hide an object, it is hidden in both the Tree and the Cyberbolic views, regardless of which view you were "in" when you hid the object.

If you've hidden an object, you can locate and redisplay it. See "Locating and Redisplaying Individually Hidden Objects."

Hiding All Routes to an Object

You can hide the main route to one particular object, as well as all alternate routes to that object. For example, you might want to hide a GIF image that represents a navigation button.

To hide all routes to an object:

Select the object you want to hide from view. You can select either the main route or any alternate route to the object. Likewise, you can select the object in either the Tree view or the Cyberbolic view.
Choose Object Properties from the View menu, or right-click the object and choose Properties. The Properties dialog box appears.
Select Hide All Routes on the General tab, and click OK.

Shortcut In the map, select the object you want to hide (you can select it in either view) and press Ctrl+H.

Hiding All Alternate Routes to an Object

Even if you have used the Display Options dialog box to specify that all alternate routes should be included, you can still hide alternate routes to a particular object. For example, you might want to exclude all alternate routes to the home page to avoid clutter in the map. Note that you cannot hide one specific alternate route to a particular object; you can only hide all alternate routes to that object.

To hide all alternate routes to an object

Select the object that has alternate routes you want to hide. You can select either the main route or an alternate route to the object.
Choose Object Properties from the View menu, or right-click the object and choose Properties. The Properties dialog box appears.
Select Hide All Alternate Routes on the General tab, and click OK. The main route to the object will appear in the map window, but all alternate routes will be hidden.

Note Any objects you've hidden using the Properties dialog box do not appear in the map window, unless you use the Link Info window to navigate to an object that's been hidden. In that case, hidden objects are disablemed. However, you can easily locate and redisplay hidden objects, as described in the next section.

Locating and Redisplaying Individually Hidden Objects

If you hide individual objects in a map, you may eventually want to find or redisplay one or more of them. You can search for individually hidden objects as follows:

Choose Custom Search from the Tools menu or click the Custom Search button on the Main toolbar.
Set up the Search dialog box to define where and how you want to search. For example, to search for hidden images, select Images in the Object Type drop-down list. For complete information on using the Search dialog box, see "Search Dialog Box Criteria" in Chapter 6, "Searching Maps and Creating Custom Reports."
Choose Hidden from the Field drop-down list.
Click Search. A Search Results window appears, listing all individually hidden objects that meet your search criteria.
To redisplay a hidden object, select it in the Search Results window. The object appears--disabled and selected--in the map window.
To "un-hide" a hidden object so that it shows up in both views of the map again, right-click it and choose Properties. The Properties dialog box appears.
In the General tab, clear Hide All Routes or Hide All Alternate Routes (whichever is selected), and click OK.

Note If you simply want to search for all hidden objects, you can use the Hidden Objects Quick Search (choose Tools|Quick Search).

Strategies for Making Great Maps of Your Site

This section presents some concepts and techniques to help you make the most helpful WebMaps for your purposes. Although you can make maps of any site on the Web, this section assumes you're making maps of your own site as an aid to managing that site. However, the tips and techniques given here apply to mapping any Web site.

How Big is Your Site?

If your site contains more than about 1000 pages, and if it has many hypertext links, it's probably rather complex and time-consuming to manage. A WebMap is particularly useful for analyzing large sites, since it gives you a comprehensive view of all the aspects of your site.

However, a large site creates a large map. There's nothing inherently wrong with a large map, but it can take longer to create and analyze. You might consider making several smaller maps of your site instead. You can then use these smaller maps to analyze and "QA" your site. Or, you could publish a smaller, customized map. You'll probably want to make at least one complete map of your site, however, so you can quickly search the entire site and get a broad overview of its interconnections and structure.

Are You Using Robot Exclusion Protocol?

If you've used robot exclusion protocol to protect any part of your site from spiders (sometimes called robots or crawlers), Content Analyzer won't be able to explore your entire site unless you "dishonor" the protocol. By default, Content Analyzer honors all robot exclusion protocol, since it's always good netiquette to keep spiders from running rampant on the Web. Parts of your site that have been protected are shown with a robot icon, indicating that Content Analyzer could explore no further.

Example of site protected by robot exclusion protocol (www.cnn.com)

But since it's your site you want to explore (and you control the spider you're exploring with), it makes sense to dishonor the protocol. To explore your entire site, disable robot exclusion protocol by clearing the Honor Robot Protocol checkbox in the New Map or Explore dialog box.

Note that any robot exclusion protocol is ignored by default when you map your site from a file system.

Do You Have Imagemaps Connected to Cgi Scripts?

If you use the ISMAP tag for imagemaps, you need CGI scripts (and associated .map files) for imagemaps. This means that some of the content of your site may not be visible in the WebMap.You'll see a CGI script, represented by the gateway icon, and the imagemap, represented by the Mona Lisa icon. But you won't see what the imagemap is linked to; the imagemap is a "dead-end."

If your site includes server-side imagemaps, and you'd prefer that your WebMaps show what the imagemaps are linked to, consider changing them to client-side imagemaps, which require no mediating CGI script; you use HREFs to directly link the coordinates of the imagemap to particular URLs (see "Turning Server-side Imagemaps into Client-side Imagemaps").