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How do we locate informaton, once it is posted on the WWW? This becomes a problem, if we do not know the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the Website. Until the invention of a web browser, called MOSAIC, in the Mid 1990’s, finding information on the WWW was a difficult task.
After MOSAIC was introduced, two web browsers become dominate in the market place. The first browsers to have the major part of the market was Netscape. Then Microsoft entered the market, and today, their browser, MS Internet Explorer, has about 85% market share.
Several young men, in a California University dorm room, started to surf the WWW. They found websites that interested them. They started to post an “Address Book” of the location of these websites. They first reviewed the sites, then put them BEST ONES in this online “Address Book”. They named their website, YAHOO. This website is probably the number one indexer of website on the Internet.
When you log onto YAHOO, you are entering the Internet through what is called a PORTAL website. It is the hope and desire of every webmaster, that their website become your portal website. This is the site that you see over and over. Advertising banners can be placed on these PORTAL websites and become a source advertising for revenue for the website owners.
Soon after the appearance of YAHOO, several other portal websites appeared with a different philosophy of locating information of the WWW. These sites include EXCITE, LYCOS, ALTA VISTA , INFOSEEK and MSN. These sites did not INDEX the information. These are search engines that go out and “search the web” only after certain key words are entered into the search engines.
Another Seach Engine that has been getting a lot of press is Google.
Not ever search engine will find all the websites that you might need. For a really effective search, you need to you a MULTI-SEARCH ENGINE to find what you are looking for.
Several that I have found effective are www.dogpile.com and www.highway61.com You make ONE ENTRY and then these multi search engines go out to several search engines and make your search. Instead of visiting each of the search engines individually, the Multi Search Engines do it for you.
Recently, two search engines have come forth that allow you to ask a simple question, in ordinary language and the search engines then go out and find what you asked for. For example, if you are looking for a recipe to make sourdough bread, you simply type in :
“ I want a recipe to make sourdough bread”. In short order you will be given several sites that might have your answer. The two sites that presently offer this type of searching arewww.askjeeves.com AND www.altavista.com .
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