Hiding Info From Spiders/Robots

This page describe various methods to hide your email address (or other information) from robots. The normal method of entering an email address on a web page is:

<a href="mailto:name@domain.type">LinkDescription</a>

Optionally you can specify email address for "copy to", "blind copy to", the subject, and body text. This header information is enclosed in the quotes after the email address. Some email programs will truncate the subject if it has spaces in it. You can use %20 to force a space.

Header Info Format Example
copy to &cc= &cc=name@domain.name
blind copy to &bcc= &bcc=name@domain.name
subject ?subject= ?subject=theSubject
body of the email message &body= &body=test

Link Description

<a href="mailto:name@domain.name?cc=a@domain.name&bcc=b@domain.name&subject=theSubject&body=test">Link Description</a>

Method 1

You can type in the ASCII equivalent. This is done when in source mode. See the ASCII Chart at the end of this page for the complete list of characters.

Email: BCUG GoLive email

Method 2

You can use a JavaScript within Adobe GoLive.

Email:
Phone:

Method 3

You can use a stand-alone application called SpamStopper - a free utility for the Mac. It allows you to specify how your want to encode your text. It can generate a JavaScript or just encoded text.

You need to copy the source it generates, then paste it into your source code.

JavaScript:
Encoded Text: BCUG GoLive email

Method 4

You can download an action for Adobe GoLive from Adobe Action Exchange - Security - NoSpam action. You install the action in the Modules>JScripts>Actions folder by creating a new folder called "AardActions" and copying the NoSpam.action file there. You must restart GoLive after installing it. Read the accompanying documentation to use it.

Here is a sample of the link < > it creates. It shows the email address as the link. Note not all browsers support this csaction -- if it is blank, then your browser does not support it.

NoSpam Action
Browser Compatibility		 Mac PC
Version Works? Version Works?
Internet Explorer 5.2.2 yes ? ?
Netscape 7.1 yes 7.1 ?
OmniWeb 4.2.1 yes n/a -
Safari 1.0 yes n/a -
Opera 6.02 yes ? ?

Note: be sure to copy the script "GeneratedItems/CSScriptLib.js" to the web server along with your html file.

ASCII Chart


          +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
          | Hexadecimal                                                                              |
          |            0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    A    B    C    D    E    F  |
+---------|       +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|     0   |    0  |  NUL  SOH  STX  ETX  EOT  ENQ  ACK  BEL   BS   HT   LF   VT   FF   CR   SO   SI  |
|    16   |    1  |  DLE  DC1  DC2  DC3  DC4  NAK  SYN  ETB  CAN   EM  SUB  ESC   FS   GS   RS   US  |
|    32   |    2  |   SP    !    "    #    $    %    &    '    (    )    *    +    ,    -    .    /  |
|    48   |    3  |    0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    :    ;    <    =    >    ?  |
|    64   |    4  |    @    A    B    C    D    E    F    G    H    I    J    K    L    M    N    O  |
|    80   |    5  |    P    Q    R    S    T    U    V    W    X    Y    Z    [    \    ]    ^    _  |
|    96   |    6  |    `    a    b    c    d    e    f    g    h    i    j    k    l    m    n    o  |
|   112   |    7  |    p    q    r    s    t    u    v    w    x    y    z    {    |    }    ~  DEL  |
|         +-------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Decimal              0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10   11   12   13   14   15  |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

For Example the letter "A" is 41 in Hexadecimal and 65 in decimal. Hexadecimal numbers are RowColumn - the first letter in Row 3 is in Column 0 = 30 for the zero character. To encode the number in decimal you must be in source mode and the format is: &#__; where the underscores are replaced with the decimal number of the character. To get the decimal number, take the first column (0,16, 32, etc.) and add it to number in the row that corresponds to the character you want. For example, the character 'm' (lower case M) is 96 +13 = 109.

%__ &#__;
Character Hexadecimal Encoded Decimal Encoded
m 6D %6D 109 &#109;
a 61 %61 97 &#97;
i 69 %69 105 &#105;
l 6C %6C 108 &#108;
t 74 %74 116 &#116;
o 6F %6F 111 &#111;
: 3A %3A 58 &#58;
. 2E %2E 46 &#46;
@ 40 %40 64 &#64;
? 3F %3F 63 &#63;
= 3D %3D 61 &#61;
% 25 %25 38 &#37;
& 26 %26 38 &#38;

Decimal To Binary Number Conversion

In case you are interested, here is the binary equivalents for the numbers 0-16. As is the case in the way we count with base10 numbers (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ...), you carry over to the next column when you reach the top digit. So 10 follows 01 because the top digit is 1. There are only 2 values (0 and 1) for base2 numbers. Simple no? Study the table below and see the pattern.

Decimal
Base10		   Binary
Base2		   Octal
Base8		   Hexadecimal
Base16
0 = 000 = 0 = 0
1 = 001 = 1 = 1
2 = 010 = 2 = 2
3 = 011 = 3 = 3
4 = 100 = 4 = 4
5 = 101 = 5 = 5
6 = 110 = 6 = 6
7 = 110 = 7 = 7
8 = 111 = 10 = 8
9 = 1000 = 11 = 9
10 = 1001 = 12 = A
11 = 1010 = 13 = B
12 = 1011 = 14 = C
13 = 1100 = 15 = D
14 = 1101 = 16 = E
15 = 1110 = 17 = F
16 = 1111 = 20 = 10

Notice the last row. Base10 16 = base8 20 = base16 10. The relationship between base8 and base16 is 2-to-1. Also, base16 uses the letters 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', and 'F' to represent the base10 numbers 10 through 15 -- they are two digit numbers in base10. The concept of carrying a one would fall apart if this convention were not adapted.