What is sitemap?
A site map is one page or sometimes a set of pages, which lists all, or most of the pages on a web site.

If your web site is small, consisting of only a few pages, you can have links to all these pages from one page – the site map.

On the other hand, if your site consists of hundreds of pages segregated into directories (hopefully!), the site map of your web site might run into 2 or more pages.

As the term suggests a site map is a map of the web site and can be a list of links or a more complex representation. However, my advice is to keep the site map as simple as possible.

The simplest way to create a site map is to use the HTML Unordered Lists tag <UL>. The tag can be employed to create simple one-level lists and also display the hierarchical structure of your web site by nesting lists if your site s more complex.

The Unordered Lists tag <UL> supports a neat attribute called Type with which you can specify the type of bullet you want for the list – disc, circle or square (Here i used only square).

Let us look at an example:

• Electronics
  • DVD players,
  • CD palyers,
  • Tape Recorder,
  • Computer
    • Palmtops,
    • PC,
    • Laptops
• Automobiles
  • Cars
  • Buses
  • Scooters

The HTML code for the above is:

<ul type="square">
<li>Electronics
<ul type="square">
<li>DVD Players</li>
<li>CD palyers</li>
<li>Tape Recorder</li>
<li>Computer
<ul type="square">
<li>Palmtops</li>
<li>PC</li>
<li>Laptops</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Automobiles
<ul type="square">
<li>Cars</li>
<li>Buses</li>
<li>Scooters</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

Note: In future articles, we can see about 1) Why are Site Maps important for a web site? 2) Important points for a good site map