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Search Engines

AltaVista
 http://www.altavista.com/



 A little left behind in the search stakes by Google and other competitors, AltaVista (now owned by Overture) has recently gone back to basics with its new, minimal homepage. The layout of the site, and the way that search results are displayed, is certainly much improved as a result. The extra search facilities for images, audio/MP3, video and news are also very useful, as is the Babelfish translation service. Awarded a Sapling Commendation. [GAS, 5 Aug 2006].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-120301-03
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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Alumni.net
 http://www.alumni.net/



Alumni.net is a website with the aim of "bringing old school and work friends together", which claims to have 4 million members worldwide, and to have reunited 'thousands' of people over the last ten years. The site is well organised and quite attractively designed; users can search by member, organisation, location or company affiliation. [GAS, 7 Nov 2005].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-270801-06
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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Chubba
 http://chubba.whatuseek.com/



Chubba describes itself as a "powerful web metasearch engine that queries many of the web's top search engines", including whatUseek's Web Index, though searches seem to bring up only a handful of mostly commercial results. It's probably best to use Chubba for its directory, dictionary, encyclopedia and weather search functions, which are much more useful. [GAS, 5 Aug 2006].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-280701-02
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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Dogpile UK Meta Search Engine and Business Directory
 http://www.dogpile.co.uk/



Dogpile.co.uk is a UK-specific version of the popular Dogpile.com site. As well as web search (bringing up results from 10 leading search engines), helpful business and residential directories are provided. [GAS, 28 May 2006].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-040303-01
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United Kingdom
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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Dogpile
 http://www.dogpile.com/



Dogpile is a meta-search engine that searches the Internet's top search engines, including Google, Yahoo! Search, MSN, Ask.com, About, MIVA and LookSmart. Results can be displayed by search engine or all together, while a number of special searches - including images, audio, multimedia, news and shopping - are also available. The inclusion of searchable Yellow Pages and White Pages for the United States help cement Dogpile's usefulness as a resource. [GAS, 28 May 2006].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-280701-03
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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Euroseek
 http://www.euroseek.com/



Euroseek.com seems to change every time Sapling visits it, but currently offers web or image search in a variety of European languages. Though the results are powered by Google and displayed quite neatly, sponsored results assume an overly-dominant position. [GAS, 13 Aug 2005].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-090603-02
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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Excite
 http://www.excite.com/



Excite searches multiple search engines at once, including Google, Yahoo!, Ask and About. Image and news searches are also offered, as well as other features such as yellow pages, white pages and classifieds. The homepage is rather cluttered, but the search results themselves are quite clearly laid out. [GAS, 5 Aug 2006].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-090603-03
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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Go.com
 http://www.go.com/



Formerly Infoseek, Go.com offers web search powered by Yahoo!, plus other US-oriented features such as headlines from ABCNews.com and sports news from ESPN.com. The company is owned by Buena Vista, which obviously explains the prominent Disney-related content on the homepage; if that doesn't appeal, you might as well just use Yahoo! to start with. [GAS, 5 Aug 2006].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-090603-05
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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Google
 http://www.google.com/



 In recent years Google has become so synoymous with web searching it barely requires an introduction. However, it's worth flagging up the features that continue to keep it one step ahead of its competitors - the very quick searches; its excellent, uncluttered interface; and results that are generally accurate and up to date. Google also offers special searches (US Government, Linux, BSD, Apple Macintosh, Microsoft), a web directory organised by theme, the impressive Google News facility and a growing array of other tools. Awarded a Sapling Commendation. [GAS, 12 Nov 2007].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-120301-02
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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LookSmart
 http://www.looksmart.com/



LookSmart's homepage is attractively designed and well-organised - users can search the Web, or explore by topic using the directory. [GAS, 10 May 2006].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-090603-01
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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Lycos
 http://www.lycos.com/



 Lycos is one of the most popular search engines and also one of the best, with the advanced search function allowing users to specify information which must be included or excluded. The search can also be narrowed down to specific types of document (such as books, multimedia, music), or documents written in a particular language - including more specialist requirements such as Latvian or Slovene! Even better, the search results are clearly laid out and easy to follow, which is always a plus. Awarded a Sapling Commendation. [GAS, 20 Jun 2006].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-270801-03
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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Red Hot Chilli
 http://www.redhotchilli.co.uk/



Offering to "spice up your search", Red Hot Chilli combines its own directory with a meta-search tool that draws results from most of the best search engines, including Google, Overture and Ask Jeeves. Other types of search are offered too, including images and businesses, though their coverage seems a little limited. To be fair, sites like this are commonplace on the Web, and you could be forgiven for assuming that Red Hot Chilli offers little that's new or original. However, the site benefits from a clean, professional-looking interface, and its easy to use UK residential telephone directory - with each entry linking to local weather, maps and businesses - is particularly useful. For UK users tired of American-oriented content, Red Hot Chilli's British focus is also a plus. [GAS, 6 Nov 2006].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-180104-01
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United Kingdom
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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Slider
 http://www.slider.com/



Slider provides a full text search of the DMOZ Open Directory as well as a searchable online encyclopedia. These functions are useful, of course, and the site is neatly organised; however, it's difficult to see what Slider really offers that is unique or innovative. [GAS, 23 May 2011].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-270801-07
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Australia
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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UK Search Portal
 http://www.uksearchportal.com/



The UK Search Portal launched in 2001, with the aim of "letting you search the web from a United Kingdom point of view". This is a laudable idea - in reality, however, the search engine's coverage seems rather limited, and it's difficult to see what distinctive qualities the UK Search Portal really offers. [GAS, 10 May 2006].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-280701-01
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United Kingdom
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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Webcrawler
 http://www.webcrawler.com/



Webcrawler goes under the tagline "the world's top search engines spun together", including Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask and more. The site and its search results benefit from a clean, crisp interface, with a variety of extra search functions - images, news, audio, video - also provided. [GAS, 5 Aug 2006].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-270801-05
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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White Pages - Lycos People Search
 http://peoplesearch.lycos.com/



Incorporating the former WhoWhere site, Lycos People Search does what you might expect, featuring people search (white pages) and business search (yellow pages) for the United States. [GAS, 14 Aug 2005].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-270801-02
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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Yahoo!
 http://www.yahoo.com/



 Yahoo!'s search technology is no longer powered by Google, though the layout of the results continues to look very Google-esque. Still, Yahoo! offers a very good range of searches (images, news, shopping and local, as well as web), and a wealth of other useful content (such as auctions, real estate ads, the popular Yahoo! Groups). Awarded a Sapling Commendation. [GAS, 3 Jun 2006].



ENTRY NUMBER: oth-270801-09
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PRIMARY GATEWAY LISTING: Other Information Resources » Resources
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