Billy Kavalos
SLM
General Search Engines
Google
Google is a very simple but effective search engine. One of the main factors which sets apart this search engine from the rest is the speed at which is processes a search and returns results; the time of a search is displayed in the upper right hand corner. This search engine allows you to search in various categories, including web, image, audio, directory, and news. The results page also has a category link, which takes the user to a new page of several categories related to the search topic. Google also has what it calls a PageRank system, which ranks the pages according to relevance and displays the results in that order.
Yahoo
Along with being a very popular news and information site, Yahoo is also a great search engine. Upon searching for a term, Yahoo not only returns a large amount of very relevant results, but also gives you various related terms directly under the search box. The user can click on any of these words to do a web search on that topic. In addition, Yahoo also has an Inside Yahoo section on the results page. This section returns results based on the search topic. For example, if a search for “photosynthesis” is entered, this section will display a reference link which allows the user to be forwarded to Yahoo Education site and encyclopedia to learn more about photosynthesis. This is a very useful feature for quickly finding what you are searching for.
Kid Safe Search Engines
Yahooligans
Yahooligans is a great Yahoo-based search engine and directory specifically designed for children. It offers a directory helping children narrow their search to specific categories. The directory also allows children to view sites of specific categories rather than searching for them, giving them a more comprehensive list. It is a very attractive site and also has some interesting links, including games, as well as movie and music information. The search results are excellent and very fast.
Ask Jeeves Kids
This is a very useful search engine that allows children to search by asking a question. The site then returns questions similar to the one asked that is has found results to. The searcher then clicks on the most appropriate question. Although the returned questions can occasionally be irrelevant, the majority of times the results are very useful and pertinent. After a question is typed, this search engine also provides links to other children-based search engines, such as Yahooligans.
Vivisimo
This meta-search engine is relatively fast compared to other search engines of its kind. Vivisimo provides a large amount of very pertinent search results. To make it easier to find exactly what you are looking for, this search engine clusters the results into various related categories. For example, a search for photosynthesis provides general results but also allows the user to modify and limit the results by selecting such categories as light energy and biology. Another very useful tool of this search engine is the preview tool. It allows you to preview a portion of the search result page below the link on the same page, allowing for faster and more efficient searching.
Dogpile
Dogpile searches all the major search engines and allows the user to sort results either by search engine or relevance. The results are excellent and to further help you refine a search, Dogpile groups results into categories. This allows the user to select a category of interest to further specify what is desired and narrow down the search results. It also informs the user of how many results are in a specific category. There is also a feature which allows the user to choose whether they are searching for an image, audio, or news. The advanced search gives users more options to narrow search results and therefore, get more relevant results.
Media
AltaVista
This search engine allows you to search for audio, images, and video. AltaVista also gives you many options to further specify the search and find exactly what you are looking for. You can choose the format of the multimedia type (whether it is a picture, video, or an audio clip). The length of videos and audio clips, and size of pictures can be specified as well. The results are fast and numerous, and the results page supplies all the information needed to efficiently select the correct result. Along with the name of the file, the results page lists size, length (if applicable), and the web page. The searcher is then given the option to open in a new window or to get more information on the site where the file is located.
Google
In addition to being an excellent and very fast general
search engine, Google is also an excellent and easy to use image search
engine. The self proclaimed “most
comprehensive image search” engine on the web lives up to its name, searching
almost
Lycos
Lycos Multimedia searches all media types, including
pictures, video, mp
News
Yahoo News
Yahoo News is a news page as well as a search engine for news. By clicking the link above, you are taken to a page with the present day’s top stories. This site is constantly being updated so that the freshest news is always presented. The news is also categorized to make finding the news being sought easier. When a search term is entered, the user is provided with many results and a small excerpt from that news article. Searches can also be made for news, photos, and audio.
Google
Google news searches a large variety of continuously updated news sites. After entering a search term, Google returns a list of links with a short excerpt from the page. It also shows the last time that link was updated so that the user can be certain that the information they are getting is the latest. There is also a news alert feature that allows users to receive constant updates on a topic via email. Other than being a great news search engine, Google News is also a good news page in general. The top stories are listed on the front page and there are categories on the left, allowing users to quickly and easily find the news they are searching for.