WEB SEARCHING...

• Intro to web browser

A web browser is a software application that enables a user to display and interact with text, images, and other information typically located on a web page at a website on the World Wide Web or a local area network.

Software that displays web pages.

• Examples of web browser: 

 

• Search tools

–        Search engines

Software that enables users to search the Internet using keywords.

Help users find web pages & maintain databases of web sites.

 Some common search engines are: Alta Vista, Google, Yahoo, Excite, Lycos, and HotBot.

–        Subject Directories

built by human selection, organized into subject categories & never contain full-text of the web pages.

List of subject directories : http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/SubjDirectories.html

–        Name Directories

Example:  http://www.anywho.com/

–        Meta-Searchers

Search more than search engine and/or subject directory at once and then compile the results in a sometimes convenient display, sometimes consolidating all the results into a uniform format and listing.

Examples :

           Dogpile : www.dogpile.com

           Copernic Agent : www.copernic.com

• Searching technique

1.    Use subject directories.

2.    Use implied and full Boolean logic, phrase searching, truncation, and field searching effectively.

3.    Identify key concepts, synonyms, and variant word forms in your search topic.

4.    Use phrase.

5.    Use key search engines effectively.

6.    Use meta-search engines.

7.    Use specialty databases when appropriate.

8.    Apply search strategies and techniques in a scavenger hunt exercise. 

• Skills

CACHE:

Short-term storage. A cache is used to speed up certain computer operations by temporarily placing data, or a copy of it, in a location where it can be accessed more rapidly than normal.

URL:

Stands for Uniform Resource Locator

the address of a specific Web site or file on the Internet.

As you can see, not all URLs begin with "http". The first part of a URL indicates what kind of resource it is addressing. Here is a list of the different resource prefixes:

• http - a hypertext directory or document (such as a Web page)
• ftp - a directory of files or an actual file available to download
• gopher - a gopher document or menu
• telnet - a Unix-based computer system that you can log into
• news - a newsgroup
• WAIS - a database or document on a Wide Area Information Search database
• file - a file located on your hard drive or some other local drive

MULTITASKING:

refers to an operating system in which multiple processes, also called tasks, can execute (i.e., run) on a single computer seemingly simultaneously and without interfering with each other. That is, each process has the illusion that it is the only process on the computer and that it has exclusive access to all the services of the operating system.

The concurrently running processes can represent different programs, different parts of a single program and different instances of a single program. The total number of processes (or programs) that can run on the system at any time depends on several factors including the size of the memory, the speed of the CPU (central processing unit) and the size of the programs.

TEMPORARY FILE:

files stored on a computer for temporary use only, and are often created by Internet browsers. These temp files store information about Web sites that a user has visited, and allow for more rapid display of the Web page when the user revisits the site. Forensic techniques can be used to track the history of a computers Internet usage through the examination of these temporary files. Temp files are also created by common office applications, such as word process or spreadshed.

PLUGIN:

is a set of software components that adds specific abilities to a larger software application. If supported, plug-ins enable customizing the functionality of an application. For example, plug-ins are commonly used in web browsers to play video, scan for viruses, and display new file types. Well-known plug-ins examples include Adobe Flash Player, QuickTime, and Microsoft Silverlight.

DEFAULT PAGE:

is the webpage to which your server defaults when no page on the domain is specified. For example, if the "index.html" page is loaded from your server when a user enters "www.yourdomain.com", "index.html" is considered to be the Default page.