Can you find 'anything' on the web? Yep. The problem lies not with an inability to find something, but to find something 'relevant'. If you enter a search for 'cars', stand by! A recent search using the 'Google' search engine yielded 3,570,000 results - and it took only .14 seconds to do so. However, you might want to allow a little more time for browsing through 3,570,000 pages for what you want.
Search engines are not static sites. They often use helpers, programs called 'robots' or 'spiders'.
These helper programs are prowling the Internet A combination of all the computers that are 'connected' through phone lines or other transmission types. Also called the world-wide-web (www), because a graphical representation of all the connections might look like a spider-web covering the surface of the earth. (24/7) to 'read' 'meta tags' * that describe the contents of web pages. They then send the information back to their parent database An organized (sorted or sortable) group of records. A phone book is a printed database, with a 'field' that holds the first name, one for last name, one for the phone number, and so on. A group of 'fields' comprise a 'table', and a group of tables make up a database. . The methods each use for 'indexing' (putting in order) the pages they find varies widely among them, as does the database program Also called an 'application'. A 'program' creates, displays, or calculates the input of the program user. Each program is displayed in its own 'window', a separately bordered area of the computer screen. Programs generally fall into two groups, an 'application program', or a 'system program'. that eventually locates and displays your 'results' (some are faster than others, or sort differently, etc.).
* 'Meta tags' are lines of code The set of instructions for computer programs. Low-level code is not normally decipherable to humans, consisting of a series of zeros and ones. High-level code is more readable, consisting of words or characters. Programmers write 'source code', which after 'compiling', is called 'object code'. Code that is ready to run is called 'executable' code. High level code is created from low-level code and is called 'program' code. To run, it must first be converted to machine language, or 'low-level' code. that the web site developer places on each page, containing 'Keywords', page 'titles', and other information that distinguishes each page from the other.
So our first lesson on searching must be to start with a broad category for your search, then narrow it to 'refine' the results. Who wants to look at 3 million pages to find what they want!
Select To choose one or more objects for an action (such as copy, or format). Selected objects are distinguished by a 'darkening' of the object. To select a single object, left click it. You may perform an action on multiple items at once by 'selecting' the items, then choosing the action. For example, to 'bold' multiple characters in a document, 'select' a 'block' of characters, then click the 'bold' tool on the document processor's toolbar. a search engine that will give you the best chance of success for this particular search, and use the search engine's own tips on how to construct a search 'query' for best results.
There are a wide variety of search engines, and each operates a little (or a lot) differently than the others. For instance, if you are searching for a person, you want to use a search engine that specializes in names and addresses. How do you find the right 'engine'? Use a search engine, of course!
Just go to a wide-range search site such as www.google.com Several uses: 1) Short for 'Communications', as in 'COM port'. 2) Domain 'Type' identifier in an Internet URL, or address. COM following the period (or 'dot') in a domain name identifies that domain as a 'COMmercial' web site. 3) A three-letter extension to a file name that identifies the file as 'executable'. , type 'search engine' into the input blank, and click To press or 'tap' the left-side mouse button. When the pointer is over a link or menu, this will cause the menu to be opened, or the action performed. When the pointer is NOT over an 'actionable' item, it will 'focus' the computer on the area clicked. 'Go' to see a list of search engines.
If you are looking for 'people', type 'people search' to locate search engines that give you the best chance of finding individuals; if you are searching for someone's email Short for 'Electronic Mail'. Email is a file that when sent, is converted to binary bits that are grouped together (packeted), then sent through a transmission medium (usually a phone line) to another computer, where the packets of 'bits' are reconstructed and displayed as text or graphics on the recipient's computer. address, type 'email search', and so forth.
Begin with a general category in your mind, but narrow it to produce relevant results (remember those 3,570,000 pages?). A search for 'cars' is too general, but a search for 'Chevrolet Camaro' might be productive.
Remember, most search engines do not search the content of web pages, they search meta-tags and page 'titles'. So try to type the word or words that might be most likely included in a page or article 'title'.
'Chevrolet carburetor' may produce exactly what you need. The point is, give careful thought to the input you type. Another handy tip is to avoid the plural - type 'carburetor', not 'carburetors'.
Obviously, a misspelled word can lead your search astray; but many search engine databases are able to 'interpolate' and will still give you a match, especially if your misspelled word is a common misspelling.
Many web search engines have a link To join together. Short for 'hyperlink'. A component in a computer program or document that, when left-clicked, links or 'jumps' the user to another place in the same document or to a new document. Hyperlinks are the most important part of hypertext systems, including the World Wide Web. to their 'advanced' searching'. A typical 'advanced' search will allow you to specify additional words, to 'build on' your original search, or words that are not acceptable, so should be excluded from results. This gives you greater control over the input, and produces results closer to your needs.
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