Now, with well over a billion pages of web information, and the advent of supercomputers and sophisticated "spiders", it is easier to find a gem of information now, then when the net was just a shadow of its current self.
One of the first search engines, online since early 1994, is still one of the most popular, despite the fact it is one of the smallest. Many current web users started with Yahoo. Yahoo was born as a convenience for its two founders, who created a simple menu hierarchy to make it easy for themselves and other web surfers to find what they needed on the net. One reason why Yahoo is still among the smallest of the search engines is that their links are still entered manually, with editors deciding on the categories the links are placed in. Yahoo still depends heavily on submissions, rather than "spiders", which are software utilities that browse the net and report back to a database all of the links found. When entering an inquiry in the search box at http://www.yahoo.com the result will likely be a two-part response, first listing menu categories about the subject, and then listing individual sites. This method makes it relatively easy to eliminate unneeded categories, and easy to target the topics needed. One advantage to Yahoo, often lacking in its much bigger brothers, is that with the menu categories listed, other relevant sites not necessarily containing the keywords typically become apparent. Another factor, which many consider more of an advantage rather than a disadvantage, is that the Yahoo search only searches the site name and brief description, rather than every word on the target website. This results in a shorter list of hits, which are not surprisingly often more relevant than a keyword search on the much larger mega engines.
Which is the largest of the search engines is debatable, with different sources citing different figures. Largest, however, does not necessarily mean "best", as a search engine is next to useless if the information is inaccurate or in a format that is less than useful.
Among the easier to use mega-engines, is Northern Light at http://www.northernlight.com. While using the typical search box method of entering a keyword, Northern Light creates windows-type folders that sort the results into a simple but comprehensive hierarchy. These folders, which often have sub-folders beneath them when opened, contain similar sites within the chosen category. It is for this reason that Northern Light is a favorite of many.
Another excellent engine, and the one that I use most often, is "All the Web" at http://www.alltheweb.com. According to published reports, "All the Web" is possibly the fastest of the search engines, as the data is stored mostly in massive memory, rather than on hard drives or other storage media. All the Web claims to currently have every word categorized from over 600 million websites, as well as a searchable database of 66 million images and sounds, 2.5 million MP3 music files, and links to over 100 million files available to download, All the Web has one unusual feature, not found on most other engines - a "mobile search" feature designed explicitly for use from web enabled cellular phones. Being able to search for "any words" (any key terms used on a website will result in a hit), "all the words" (all of the keywords must be present in any order to result in a hit), and "exact phrase" (the exact words entered must be present in the same order to generate a hit) give the user a great deal of flexibility in limiting or expanding a search. With the large number of items categorized, All the Web often yields a large number of hits, which are placed in an "order of relevance", with the most widely used placed near the top.
A rapidly increasing in popularity engine is "Google" which has been busy gobbling up competitors, such as the recent acquisition of the DejaNews family of sites, and a very recent partnership with Yahoo. It was recently mentioned in the financial press that Google might even be considering a takeover of Yahoo! When connecting to http://www.google.com as I prepare this, the welcome screen says, "Search 1,346,966,000 web pages". I just did a quick search of a topic, and Google came up with exactly 999 hits in 0.14 seconds. Another advantage of Google, over many of its competitors, is that it offers a "Translate this page" option for non-English sites. As a test, I clicked on the "Translate" link of a site in German, and it instantly identified it as German, and reproduced the site in English. Impressive.
Another massive search engine, combining the menu hierarchy of a Yahoo, the ability to translate between 25 languages, and what is claimed to be the fastest search technology available, is AltaVista at http://www.altavista.com. A very comprehensive site, AltaVista intends to be a portal where users start their daily Internet activities. Using either the traditional keyword search, or the more complex "ask a question" format, AltaVista performs very well. Also capable of specialized searches, such as image and multimedia or MP3s, maps, a "people finder", and a yellow pages, AltaVista also offers news and shopping price comparisons as well as other conveniences. Links are also available to local shopping deals and coupons.
For those who are not interested in restricting a search to a single search engine, there are a variety of "meta" sites, which search multiple engines with a single search. One of the most popular of these is "Dogpile" at http://www.dogpile.com. With a slogan of "All results, no mess", Dogpile does not use the conventional search button, but instead uses a "Fetch". Doing a quick search, similar to the one mentioned earlier, Dogpile searched 15 other search engines. In addition to searching for information, Dogpile will also search for images, audio and MP3, auctions, news, files to download, online discussions, business information, streaming media, and other specialized resources.
Another "meta" engine, which searches other engines, is the humor enhanced "Highway 61" at http://www.highway61.com, which tries to make searching fun by injecting humor in the search results. This site claims that it is "powered by a speedy Armadillo". A fun but comprehensive site, which includes data, images, and multimedia capabilities, Highway 61 is a good choice.
Other popular search engines are Excite at http://www.excite.com, Lycos at http://www.lycos.com, Mamma "the mother of all search engines" at http://www.mamma.com, and HotBot at http://www.hotbot.com. All are comprehensive, easy to use, and very capable. These are by far not the only search engines - the Yahoo directory of search engines lists over 200, some being very general like those mentioned above, and some being very narrow and explicit, specializing in single topics.
The net may be huge, but with a little experience is not unmanageable. A good search engine is indeed a great benefit when detailed information is needed quickly.
Ira Wilsker is an Instructor IV of Management Development at Lamar Institute of Technology. Ira has been working with computers since 1965 when he took his first computer class at the Illinois Institute of Technology, in Chicago. A past president of the Golden Triangle PC Club, and a board member of the Association of PC Users Groups, Ira is a frequent guest on the local television news, and has lectured locally to internationally on a variety of computer topics ranging from computer and Internet basics, to CyberCrime, and Community Oriented Policing. Ira is the host of the Computer Information Hour on KLVI 560AM every Tuesday, 6-7pm
For more information on the Tulsa Computer Society click here