Saturday, December 1, 2007
Practical 4 & 5: Search Facilities
Subject Directory (Galaxy)
Galaxy, has the worse page design of the 3 engines (Yahoo, Metacrawler and Galaxy). This is due to its complicated webpage design at its homepage. To a non familiar user, he may be put off as there are too many words on one page, giving it a non-user friendly look at first sight. This may affect and turn some new users away instantly.
The galaxy interface appears exhaustive however, if the user keys in certain key words such as "racism impact" in search field, the data wanted cannot be found. Instead, what appears would be racism issues unrelated to soccer even though the option search only within soccer directory is selected.
Meta Search Engine (Metacrawler)
The metacrawler allows for searches across a variety of search engines and provides you with the best each has to offer.
One plus point that the metacrawler has over the other 2 engines is that it also allows you to track and display your 15 most recent searches at the right hand column of your search results display for easy return to your previous topic.
The metacrawler provides useful interface for audio/video. However, it does not support search for chinese (in pinyin). The metacrawler also lack focus; it does not allow users to target search in Singapore only.
Search Engine (Yahoo)
Yahoo supports chinese search in both pinyin and chinese characters. They are still the most efficient in terms of search, as they are a household name that is customized for local use.
The website places more emphasis on a lively web design and its user-friendliness. The more popular graphics and links are placed strategically, telling users that they know what the users want. Yahoo also allows for searches by different locations. (eg. Only Singapore, All Web)
Galaxy, has the worse page design of the 3 engines (Yahoo, Metacrawler and Galaxy). This is due to its complicated webpage design at its homepage. To a non familiar user, he may be put off as there are too many words on one page, giving it a non-user friendly look at first sight. This may affect and turn some new users away instantly.
The galaxy interface appears exhaustive however, if the user keys in certain key words such as "racism impact" in search field, the data wanted cannot be found. Instead, what appears would be racism issues unrelated to soccer even though the option search only within soccer directory is selected.
Meta Search Engine (Metacrawler)
The metacrawler allows for searches across a variety of search engines and provides you with the best each has to offer.
One plus point that the metacrawler has over the other 2 engines is that it also allows you to track and display your 15 most recent searches at the right hand column of your search results display for easy return to your previous topic.
The metacrawler provides useful interface for audio/video. However, it does not support search for chinese (in pinyin). The metacrawler also lack focus; it does not allow users to target search in Singapore only.
Search Engine (Yahoo)
Yahoo supports chinese search in both pinyin and chinese characters. They are still the most efficient in terms of search, as they are a household name that is customized for local use.
The website places more emphasis on a lively web design and its user-friendliness. The more popular graphics and links are placed strategically, telling users that they know what the users want. Yahoo also allows for searches by different locations. (eg. Only Singapore, All Web)
# posted by alvin @ 2:43 AM 
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