03-07-2018 02:11 PM
hello everyone i've got some rather long listing pages and wanna put jump links or scroll links or something to enable jumping around to different areas of the page. but apparently ebay changed their policy in june 2017 so that the previous methods don't work anymore. somebody had a script that could be appended to the bottom of the page and that could be called and it worked. but now it seems they don't permit ANY so-called "active content".
so does anyone know about any currently approved method to jump around?
thanx, mike
03-07-2018 02:13 PM
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Replacing-Active-Content/bd-p/activecontent
03-07-2018 02:40 PM
I don't know the actual HTML terminology, nor do I know the original method you are talking about. But the HTML anchor and name method doesn't work?
I have an ebay supplemental page that uses it here http://stores.ebay.com/Simply-Intimates-and-Apparel-Co/How-to-Determine-Your-Size.html
Click around and you'll see what I'm talking about... I name anchors and call them out in the links using the hashtag and the name.
03-07-2018 03:51 PM
no the #name and name= method does not work. i cutted and pasted your own code, the
<a href="#head">Head & Hat Sizing</a>
and the
<a name="head">Head & Hat Sizing</a>
into my page. click on it and nothing happens. in fact, several people have posted the same problem on this forum. nobody seems to know why it don't work, although it obviously works for you, it sure don't for me.
03-07-2018 03:53 PM
There are two things to understand about internal page jumps — linking to another part of the same page, as illustrated by @bigdeals.etc
1) A jump will only appear to function where there is enough hidden page to allow the amount of scrolling that will be required to bring the destination to the top of the window.
2) eBay's embedded item description is loaded within an iframe (a webpage within a webpage) that is designed to open full length so that no scrolling is required or available within that iframe. No scrolling means no page jumps. The outer page may still require scrolling, but the inner iframe (the seller description) is not allowed to touch or control the outer page, so the jump links won't function against the outer scrollbars.
A few years ago we provided a script that would allow a local link to jump to its destination in a fully opened iframe window using obscure methodology that actually forced the outer scrollbar to function. That script is no longer allowed.
The only time a local internal link will fail to work on eBay is when the description is embedded in an iframe. On mobile devices, the description is one click away in a separate window, so there is no iframe and the jump links will work there. Thus your failure exists only 50% of the time. Is it even worth pursuing?
Listings should not be so long and wordy that jumping is required. Most of the terms are now handled in eBay slots and it would be worthwhile to make those ebay slots work for you.
However, there are still some product lines where some conversation might be worthwhile. If you were to make tabs of that content, or a dimensioned scroll box holding that content, you would be able to use your local links to scroll that dimensioned box; so there are other workarounds for descriptions, but they will not include the kind of page jumps you have used previously.
03-07-2018 04:11 PM - edited 03-07-2018 04:15 PM
i don't get what your saying. a listing page always spans many screens that can only be reached by scrolling. is the page referenced by @bigdeals loaded on an iframe?
i'm selling electronic components and need to include reference information like bigdeal does but i don't know how to do that.
03-07-2018 06:07 PM
The store page that @bigdeals.etc provided is not in an iframe, so the limitations do not apply. Your listing description IS in an iframe when it is embedded in an ebay page, but not when it is one-click-away outside of the eBay page.
This is a description page embedded in eBay's iframe.
This is the same description page one-click-away.
https://vi.vipr.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemDescV4&item=263535851587&
@hobbytronicswrote:i don't get what your saying. a listing page always spans many screens that can only be reached by scrolling.
eBay's page does indeed require scrolling, but the iframe (the embedded webpage) that holds your description is forced open by eBay, so that inner window has no scrollbars. If that inner window had scrollbars, you might be able to scroll it a little to get to your targets. The problem is that your targets only care about their own window and their own window is fully open. eBay's outer window does have scrollbars, but the inner window does not know that so your own internal jump links do not know the outer page needs to be scrolled.
03-07-2018 06:21 PM
THANX that's really helpful. i will go through your info until i figure it all out and maybe be back in a few days.
much obliged 🙂
03-07-2018 09:36 PM - edited 03-07-2018 09:36 PM
Oh yea @shipscript is 100% correct in what he says. I just forgot the same issues I dealt with when creating the page like 10 years ago. I'm sure you already know but my page is not a listing page so that might be why listing descriptions won't work for this method.
03-08-2018 10:24 AM
but the iframe (the embedded webpage) that holds your description is forced open by eBay, so that inner window has no scrollbars.
You might have to revise that in the future because they are playing around
again and I am seeing scrollbars on some new listings in the sellers description
area. You might have to refresh your browser quite a few times to see anything
because it is eBay, and they seem to come up blank at first but the last time I
looked at this one and a lot of others they now have scrollbars.
03-08-2018 10:42 AM
@eunster1313wrote:...but the iframe (the embedded webpage) that holds your description is forced open by eBay, so that inner window has no scrollbars....
You might have to revise that in the future because they are playing around
again and I am seeing scrollbars on some new listings in the sellers description
area.
I didn't want to muddy the topic with this situation that has been a frequent occurrence for many years. If the browser can't fully load and render the iframe content quickly enough, the window will be sized to whatever has already loaded. When the remainder finally loads, there will be scroll bars. I am seeing this issue a lot more these days and my guess is that ebay has added so many scripts and external ads that slower browser connections can not keep up. I've addressed this more fully in another post somewhere...