 | | |
|
How To Search the Web - A few quick tips Five Cool Things to Do with Search Engines Find Anything - Links to Search Engines | |
| | |
| | |
|
How to Search the Web
By learning a few basics, you can learn to use the web more effectively and find the information you're looking for quickly and easily. You can find almost anything on the web: from a job, to an old friend, to a recipe for gingerbread, to the latest news story.
Each search engine will have different strengths and weaknesses. Our favorite search tool is AltaVista, because it has more pages indexed than any other search engine. But, because AltaVista is so large, it will often return tens of thousands of pages on a search.
However, if you learn to refine your search, you can turn up very specific information.
Let's say you're searching for a new job as a computer consultant. You can go to AltaVista and type in:
computer consultant But that will return far too many hits to be of any use to you. You can use more specific terms, let's say, User Interface Design, if that's your specialty. To make sure that those words are included on the pages the search engine returns, use a + before each word:
+user +interface +design and if you're looking for a really great job, you may want to be even more specific:
+user +interface +design +"high pay" By including the words "high pay" in quotations, the search engine will look for those two words next to each other. Let's say you want to eliminate tough jobs from your search:
+user +interface +design +"high pay" -"long hours"
Any page that includes the words "long hours" together would thus not be included in the results of the search.
These search strategies will work for AltaVista and Yahoo. Other search engines may have their own ways of including and excluding search terms. It's worth a few minutes of time to really learn how you can make the best possible use of search engines. There's a world of rich information out there on the web!
| |
| | |
| | |
|
Five Cool Things to Do With Search Engines
There's a vast amount of information available on the web. Here are a few ways to use search engines to harness some of that power. We suggest using AltaVista for these search strategies, since AltaVista has the largest number of indexed pages.
1. Find out how many people are linked to your web page. Enter your URL and see how many hits you get!
2. Do a little informal genealogy research. How many people have web pages and the same last name as you do?
3. How many local web pages can you find? Enter your zip code, area code, or the name of the city you live in.
4. Wondering what the best scanner (or other computer product) is? Search the newsgroups for the latest opinions! On AltaVista, change the "Search" button to Usenet, or use Deja News to search a larger collection of newsgroup postings. Try using the search terms
5. Just looking for a place to start on your web surfing? Click the "surprise" button on the AltaVista site for a place to start your web journey. | |
| | |
| | |
|
Links to Search Engines
At this online library, you can be as loud as you like! This vast collection of resources available on the web is neatly organized, and easy to navigate. No Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress system here, just general categories (Business, Reference, Entertainment) that narrow down to specific categories, leading to links so you can find the information you're looking for. Browse the Arts & Humanities section, for instance, and you can choose from Fine Arts, History, Language, Literature, Philosophy, or Religion. Select Fine Arts, and you'll find Dance, Music, Opera, Photography, and Theatre listings.
| |
| | |
