Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional in 10 Minutes

Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional in 10 Minutes

By Dorothy Burke and Jane Calabria

Creating a Web Search

There are many search engines available on the Web. Search engines maintain their own databases of the contents of Web pages. Different search engines look for different Web site information, and it's possible that your search results using Yahoo! may be different from your search results using Excite. As you work with search engines, you may find that you prefer one over another.

To create a Web search:

  1. Click the Search icon on the toolbar of IE5.
  2. The IE5 screen will split into frames. The left frame displays the Search Bar.

    Tip

    Bigger Search Frame Some search engines provide options that may not appear clearly within the Search frame. You can use the scroll bars to view them, or, to increase the size of the Search frame, simply drag its edge to the right. You can also open the search page in its own window by right-clicking on the word Search at the top of the frame, and selecting Open in Window from the shortcut menu that appears.
  3. Open the Choose provider drop-down list, and select the search engine you want to use. The Search Bar displays a search text box to enter your search string (see Figure 18.1).
    18fig01.jpg

    Figure 18.1 Entering search criteria.

  4. Enter your search criteria and click the Search, Seek or Submit button to begin your search. You may see a warning telling you that you are about to send information over the Internet, which is not secure. Click Yes .
  5. Your search results appear in the left frame as shown in Figure 18.2 below your search criteria. Search results are in hypertext. Scroll through the results until you find a document you would like to view and click the hypertext.
    18fig02.jpg

    Figure 18.2 Here, searching for Y2K returns over 405,000 results. We'd be better served if we narrowed our search further defining Y2K.

  6. When you are finished with your search, click the X button on the Search bar to close the search frame.

Depending upon the search tool you select, search results will vary. Some search tools return categories as well as sites. Clicking a category reveals more sites. The search results will also tell you how many "hits" or Web sites it found that contain your search string. Remember, search results will vary from search engine to search engine.

Tip

Start, Find The Start, Search menu contains additional search options, including On the Internet and For People. On the Internet displays a search page and For People displays a list of tools for tracking down people on the Internet.

Following Search Results

Once you have completed a search and see the search results listed on your screen, simply click the hypertext links (see Figure 18.2) to explore Web pages that contain your search string. When you click a link in the Search bar, the right frame displays the contents of the selected page. The contents of the Search bar remain the same.

Tip

I Want to See More! After searching for a Web page, it's frustrating if you can't see it clearly. To close the Search frame (and increase the viewing area), click the Search button in the toolbar or the X in the right-hand corner of the Search bar.

When you select a link in the Search frame, some search engines will display another page of links. For example, when I search for "olympics," I see a page containing links within its Events: International Games; Olympic Games category. I selected the one that was listed as "The Official Site of the Sydney 2000 Games," and finally, the page appeared in the right frame, as shown in Figure 18.3.

18fig03.jpg

Figure 18.3 Close the search bar to view the Web page full screen.

Visiting a Search Engine Site

Another way to conduct a search is to visit a search engine site directly. For example, enter www.yahoo.com in the Address box on your toolbar, and you will find yourself at the Yahoo! site. Here's a list of the Web sites of the more popular search engines:

Tip

Bigger Search If you want to perform an advanced search, you'll have better luck if you try the search engine's actual Web site. To display the Web site, you can usually click the logo at the top of the Search frame. You can also enter the site's address in the Address box, as in www.excite.com.

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