MOUSE CLIX
By Hobie Lunin
"Seek and ye shall find..."
One of the greatest things about the Internet is how incredible a source of
information it is. But all this newly available knowledge comes at a price:
confusion. The interconnected and dynamic nature of the "Net" prevents it
from being organized like a traditional medium, such as a book or a
newspaper. But don't worry, another great thing about the Internet is that
it solves its own problems. Enter Internet Guides and Search Engines.
There are four kinds of searches that will be described here. They are
index, search engine, surfing and directory. Which one you use will be a
matter of preference or it may depend upon the subject matter. The
difference will be more obvious to you after you conduct a few searches
using some of the information that follows.
A search engine in a website has a small window, called a field, where you
enter a few words and click on Search. The search engine reveals what it
has found by looking for the word or words on all the web pages it can
access.
The earliest search engine was Yahoo. It is still my favorite place to
start a search, however, I realize others of you out there may have your
own preferences.
What a search engine does is to scan every page on the Internet for the
words that you enter into the field to the left of the word "search". If I
enter two words with a space between them, the search engine will look for
all the pages that have the first word and then all the pages that have the
second word. If the two words are "used" and "car," you may see many pages
with items that are used but not all cars. To avoid this, put quotes
around the words as in "used cars" or put a + sign between the words as in
"used+cars" (the second way is the one I use). If a search comes back and
there are still too many pages coming up, you can always add another word
or two prefaced by a + before each in the same field and start your search
again (e.g., +Buick).
When you have it down to a reasonable number of sites to browse, start
looking at the pages to see if they look relevant. If you see one, click
on it and see what it brings up. If it is another list, see what that
brings up. If you find what you want there, great! If not, and you want
to take a different tack, start tapping your back button (the button with
the arrow pointing to the left on the tool bar up top) until you find a
different place to continue.
This technique works well, especially if you can keep adding more words to
the field to refine the search.
Indexes are lists of links that appear on a page. Sites that have such
lists are called portals and there are many of them. For a short list of
portals with links to the pages, see the mouseclix URL that follows this
article.
Yahoo, now referred to as a portal, can be used for a search using an
index. When you see the main page in Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) a large list
of links starts right at the top.
Centrally located on the page is a list of categories in bold. If you know
the category you want, then click on it. Then look for the same category in
the next list that shows up and so on as you "drill down" (internet speak)
to find the sites that will provide the specific info you are seeking.
Look at all the categories of activities or subjects that appear on the
Yahoo start page. Everywhere that you see the word "more….", Click on it
to see more of these subjects that will lead you to the information you
want.
Which is the best way to do this, you may ask. It depends on the subject
and what you already know about it. Getting familiar with both processes
(index and search engine) is most important if you intend to do this
frequently. With some practice, both techniques will take you to the exact
same site in about the same length of time.
If you are searching for a person, you can click on "People Search" near
the upper part of Yahoo's page. This will allow you to make quick checks
using phone and e-mail search. I refer to this as a Directory search.
Usually the person must have a phone or has registered his e-mail address
with the search engines. Those of you who would like to be found and want
to register your e-mail address with Yahoo can do so by going to
"yahoo.com", clicking on "people search" and then on "create my listing."
It's safe to do this, as you can decline to leave a complete house address
when registering.
If you are searching for a business, a car or a campsite, you may find that
exact item in the index. Household items are easy to find that way. Or
look in "Classified," which is a directory search.
Lastly, surfing is a technique that works, but it is easy to get so
distracted by what you find that you may not remember what you were
seeking. Surfing starts on almost any page and you click on links that
seem to be leading you in a direction of more information. As you go from
link to link, you may find just what you need.
"...Knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Matthew ch7, v.7
Hobie Lunin is a Computer Instructor and Consultant, and can be reached at
hlunin@email.com.
To see previous columns and other information, pointyour browser to http://mouseclix.tripod.com