text imaging indicator

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Level 1

8 points

text imaging indicator

Okay, so if you turn on the 'text imaging indicator' (in Preferences), then a little yellow symbol will appear next to any text that will be converted to graphics on publishing... And I am of the understanding that any text converted to graphics won't be readable by search engines etc... Yet when I publish a page that has text in the Header with shadow (turning on the shadow causes the little yellow symbol to appear), it seems that the text is readable because that text appears in the browser title bar as the page title... So does anyone know why this shadowed Header text, which is meant to be converted to graphics and rendered unreadable (has the little yellow 'text imaging indicator' next to it), is readable by the browser, and so I assume readable by search engines too?

Macbook Pro 15', Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on May 13, 2010 6:32 AM

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Answer 1

Wyodor

Level 6

19,930 points

May 13, 2010 6:41 AM in response to lovethatmac

iWeb uses the text in the Header textbox as the title. And then convert it to a image.

That is what the browser sees. It has no knowlegde how it got there and how it was made.

The text will be in the Alt attribute of the image. So a search engine will index it. Not as text of a webpage, but as the alt text of the image.

I usually do not use this sort styling.

If you want an image, use an image. If you want text keep it text.

A webpage is not a fancy dress party.

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Answer 2

lovethatmac Author

Level 1

8 points

May 13, 2010 7:10 AM in response to Wyodor

Okay, this seems to be making sense. So iWeb knows what the header text says (pre converting to image) and puts that in the source code as the header title, where the search engines can see and use it.

So am I right in now thinking that text in the Header (if converted to graphics) can still be seen by search engines due to the above (title text in the source code), but text in the page Body (if converted to graphics) won't be seen by search engines??

Or will that text (Body text converted to graphics) still be seen by search engines because iWeb puts in another type of "alt tag" or something? If so (ie. if any text converted to graphics can still be seen by search engines) then why have the 'text imaging indicator' function? Why the importance of knowing what text will be converted to graphics if the text (or rather, the alt tag of the text) will still be read by search engines anyway?

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Answer 3

Wyodor

Level 6

19,930 points

May 13, 2010 7:14 AM in response to lovethatmac

It applies to any text that is converted to an image.

Perhaps an image in the image isn't such a problem.

But text in the body is. Visitors may want to copy/paste the text.

Or find text in the page. With an image that is not possible.

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Answer 4

lovethatmac Author

Level 1

8 points

May 13, 2010 7:32 AM in response to Wyodor

Okay, so "image text" won't affect any search engine results, but may only make it harder for some visitors to Cut and Paste or Find.

I can live with no cut and paste for visitors (it's only small pieces of text here and there anyway), but because these small pieces of text contain important keywords I wouldn't be able to live with any interference to search engine functionality. Which leads me to my last question: is there any advantage whatsoever (with regards to search engines seeing your site) to proper text appearing as proper text in the source code, as opposed to image text appearing in "alt tags". Do search engines give proper text more importance than image text, or anything like that?

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Answer 5

Wyodor

Level 6

19,930 points

May 13, 2010 8:02 AM in response to lovethatmac

Here are other considerations.

When text is an image and you zoom in or out in the browser window, the image will not scale and/or renders as an image and will be pixilated and look softened when zoomed. Text is still sharp at 1600%.

Try it in Safari. Zoom with or without text-only.

Also, when you select text you can use the Speech function in OS X to read the text aloud.

Do search engines give proper text more importance than image text, or anything like that?

I read that Google uses some 500 variables to index a page and rank it.

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Answer 6

lovethatmac Author

Level 1

8 points

May 14, 2010 3:31 AM in response to lovethatmac

Thanks very much, Wydor. Each of your posts above has been very helpful. Much appreciated.

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