Updated February 13, 1997

 Search Tools

Directories 

New Sites

 Newsgroups

If you are looking for a specific document or an obscure topic, you will want to search. You will not find a complete listing anywhere of what is on the Web. A few programs, called search engines, enable you to search parts of the Web. A search engine looks at a selected group of Web sites and creates an index of the words in all the documents on those sites. When you use a search engine, you are searching this word index. Each search engine has a different list of Web sites, so you will get different responses from each one. Each search engine has a different update frequency, from hours to days. So when you use a search engine you are not searching across all documents, nor are you searching in real time. Yahoo links you to several search engines.

Tips for searching the Web

Search engines on the Web all operate differently. Searchers may look for keywords in the titles and documents only, in all hypertext links in documents, or they may search the entire text of the documents. Search engines also differ in that some allow you to qualify your search, which will increase your chances of finding what you want.

Some basic tips for doing searches:

SEARCH TOOLS:

 Start with Yahoo (natch).   Excite is also very popular.

If you're in a hurry or Yahoo finds too much, try Magellan.

The New Riders Yellow Pages is the web version of the print guide, another place to go when you're in a hurry or you're finding too much.

Lycos Form gives you a little more control than regular Lycos, be sure and change the Search Option match any term (OR) to match all terms (AND). Use Lycos when you find too little in other search engines.

The Open Text power search lets you look for words next to or near each other and also lets you limit your search to a portion of a website such as title or URL.

When you're really desperate, SavvySearch searches many other search engines simultaneously.

 

Directories

The Hot Sheet is a great place when you just want to wander around the web.

Beatrice's Web Guide is a joint venture between Yahoo and Women's Wire.

 

New Sites (daily)

Net Happenings is a Website with weekday listings of new or improved websites. It's searchable as well.

comp.infosystems.www.announce is a Newsgroup with daily listings of new or improved websites. Clicking on this link will launch Netscape's built-in newsreader. If it doesn't work or you need help, call NRS @ (404) (526) 5420.

 

New Sites (weekly)

The Scout Report is about as official as the Internet gets. It has a choice weekly selection of new or improved websites.

Recently recommended by someone somewhere, New This Week is offered by the Berkeley (California) Public Library.

The Internet Digest is another excellent weekly listing of new or improved websites.

 

Newsgroups (search engines)

Dejanews searches the full text of newsgroup postings.

Liszt searches descriptions of newsgroups.


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