Hi, help! LOL My site isn't finished yet, but it does have an address...
http://secrethiker.com

It is not nearly ready for the world to see, have only gotten started really, but has been long in the making. I surely did not submit it anywhere... yet today just now I see it on Yahoo, the 7th listing for when I type in "Oregon hikes" or whatever I typed, I even forget just now... How did it get on there??? Will it be on other search engines already too?

I guess this puts a bee ( nods to Inger! ) to learn to do the improvements and get the rest of the photos and info up... geeezzz, pressure!! LOL! But I didn't know sites got listed anywhere without being submitted, or bots... but how did bots even find it?? I am panicking!

Most sincerely,
Alarmed and under pressure LOL
Secret Hiker

Hey Secret...Congrats on the new baby listing!

Web spiders crawl all over the place. The only way NOT to get listed is to password protect your entire directory while creating your site, before even putting up the first "index.html" web page. Even then, the spiders might find the .com or .ca or .whatever link but no one will be able to view your files until you remove the password.

Trying to "list" your site with search engines can be expensive, and waiting for them to find you can take days, months or even years. If you have a site about somehting unique, they may find and list you sooner, but if your site is about something more popular, like bikes or cars, your listing could be a couple million down the list. Adding "meta" tags can help a little but your content, "alt" tags in images and your first paragraph of text on each page is what really helps to place you in search engines. It's out of your control now...you have something unique that the search spiders like to eat up. It really is a good thing, so run with it!

Man your lucky,,,im still trying! Good luck to you!

Thanks guys, I might feel more joy if the darn thing was at least finished. YOUR sites, and the others I've seen shown in this forum, are impressive... and *finished*... I feel so much pressure now... If someone does find it on a search engine as it is now, who would bother to return to it? Am in panic mode now... oof... Guess I know how this weekend will be spent... and the next weeknights... etc etc etc...

Most Sincerely,
Secret Hiker

Hello Secret
I've seen your site and it is quite neat.
But allow me to ask why you did not use the cc flash gallery to show the photos? You have the advantage of not need to scroll the page and see all pictures throught the thumbnails.
please see my site at www.jimmythesailor.com/galeria.html (sorry it is in portuguese)

Hi Jimmy,

I love your site And very nice images!

That little cat by the fence looks hurt, and I want to go rescue him.

I do have the CC photo gallery, but have not figured it out yet. It may show up on my site in the future. You did an inspirational job with it on your site, thanks for sharing!

Most Sincerely,
Secret Hiker

You have my interest I started to set up a site to sell some of my stuff. Like a online garage sale. I have been busy but you have given me inspiration. I only have one catergory up. I have quite a few more and another reason for me in buying Fbuilder

I used a program called Glenlay Galleries. I asked the author if I could use it the way I did. It would be nice to modify the display though.

This site is http://mystuff.inkmon.org I am using a subdomain to test it then propose to get a domain and another hosting

Anyway I like what you have done and I will see what I can get out of it.

Thanks for sharing

Terry

The HTML Validator add-on for Firefox is nice to have. It will find mistakes on any page you view. You can find it here:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/249

A couple things with your page you can easily fix...

1) There are two opening body tags. Just remove the one that doesn't have any attributes.

2) Your alt attribute can't have double quotes within double quotes. However, you can have something like this

alt='"Not all who wander are lost." - J.R.R. Tolkein'

or this

alt="'Not all who wander are lost.' - J.R.R. Tolkein"

Hi Cary,
Thanks a bunch for catching that! I have made the corrections now (I hope I got them all, I had lots of pages with the double body tags!) Thanks also for the link, I will go and get that later too.

And Hi Terry,
I think an online "gargage sale" type site would be fun AND funny! Good luck with that! I am glad you are inspired. I get inspired by everyone here, their neat sites, and so much shared information and advice. Who could go wrong with Coffee Cup people??!!

Thanks everyone,
Most Sincerely,
Its a secret! LOL

http://secrethiker.com

I have bookmarked your site for later. It is surprising how simular different parts of the world are.

I will follow your journeys with interest. It makes me think of some of my caravaning trips to Tasmania Adelaide Brisbane etc which to perhaps would also make a site of interest.

I have not ventured far on foot but there are some recomended hiking trails that would be good to go on. Our problem is distance between major towns as Australia does not have the population some of the hikes can take an hour or two drive to get to. Thats to some close national parks for us it would be Bundeena or laneCove. I like a bit of civilization close.

Still I shall view your site and imagine it is I who is traveling the trails

I thank you now for the experiance.

Actually I am viewing now .Just thought we do not have any real dangerous animals unless you add wild pigs and Casawaries in Queensland most avoid humans, snakes can be bad as can some spiders but if you take care you are fine. We do not have bears only our friendly drop bears. They drop on you from their tree perch and refuse to get of your head untill you feed them. They are a cousin to the Koala luckily pretty rare, the Aboriginees eat them and they are almost extinct