This contains general information that I surely hope will help people get to the information they are searching for. I do know that I am happy for those who taught a real deal computer novice like me.
1. Website searching (surfing): Keep in mind that here is where you are "surfing" the web. Not directly going to information. This is the time to relax, enjoy yourself and discover new, exciting websites while surfing the World Wide Web.
2. Search engines are user friendly: They want to help you.
A. Don't overlook the obvious. Think of words about the subject you seek, then type them in and "search". The more specific your words, the more targeted your search.
B. Tips of the search engine. Having trouble? Most search engines have a tip and/or help area to guide you where you want to go.
C. Yellow pages. Search engines have white & yellow pages, usually accessed by category and/or City, State. Yellow pages are neat.
TO SEARCH: Just the basics
ONE: select a search engine you wish to use (log it into the "address" or "go to" box and "enter" or "go") or use the search facility your computer browser has provided for you.
TWO: think of and consider keywords and keyword phrases or combinations about the subject you seek. The more specific, the more targeted your search will be.
THREE: for example, type in a broad keyword such as "food" and press enter. You will see up to millions of entries with the first 10 showing.
FOUR: next time try typing in several of the keywords that have relation to the subject you're looking for, and/or phrases in quotes such as "food apples golden delicious Washington state"
FIVE: continue being more specific until the search results into a few entries that target the information you seek.
ADDITIONAL HELPS:
1. Surf the web It's fun to surf the web for a lot of people and you will learn a lot about the way it works .
2. Search engine help tools Search engines try their best to be user friendly. In an easy to get to place, each engine has a help area in which if you're having trouble getting to a type of website - - - they will help. And they're good at it.
3. WHEN TYPING IN KEYWORDS Think lower case letters, not all capitals. Generally, use the capital letter as the first letter of a proper name.
4. PUTTING TWO OR MORE WORDS IN QUOTATION MARKS (Example: "apples Washington state") This trick will key the search into websites with those words linked together.
5. THE "+" and "-" SIGNS These can be used to advantage by dictating what words should or should not be included in the search. (Example: apples + red delicious - golden delicious)
6. HAVE TROUBLE FINDING SOMETHING? Check your spelling - - - simple but that is usually the problem. ALSO' for various reasons - - - sometimes sites just "go away"
GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN
THE SEARCH ENGINES
TYPE ONE:
Your computer browser will probably have a search feature built into it - - usually Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer. These are good - - remember, their are others.
TYPE TWO:
These are very large to smaller single search engines. A few of these are (and can be logged into your computer by adding ".com" to the end of the name): Lycos, Yahoo, Infoseek, Magellan, Excite, HotBot, webcrawler, Google, Altavista, Northern Light. Others may be found by going to your search engine search facility and typing in "search engines" then search.
TYPE THREE:
These are search engines that search many other search engines at once. Some of these are "copernic.com", and "dogpile.com".
ABOUT SEARCH ENGINES
Search engines are software programs that are free on the web - - - they go out and look for whatever you tell them to find.
These search engines allow you to search through all the various pages of information and text on the internet. They do this by searching the text of submissions for keywords and/or keyword phrases (keyword combinations)
TWO BASIC SEARCH ENGINE TYPES
THE INDEX TYPE: In this type, the individual webpages are scanned to collect words on those pages. Your input of certain "keywords" of interest will cause the index search engine to display web pages containing those words. These engines tend to have a wider database and are updated more often.
THE DIRECTORY TYPE: In this type, the webpage data is placed into specific categories and further broken down into interests within that category. These directories use more consistent forms and tend to be less confusing.
LASTLY: All search engine types may have crossover or overlapping properties of the other type. Some indexes divide their database into general categories; some directories let you type in keywords and will search the categories for those words.
WHY KNOW THIS? Just to make you aware and help give you knowledge of types when seeking information.