A Search Engine is an automated program used to search the WWW. Search engines
operate in a variety of different ways. To find out more about this, look at
the "Search the web"
section in the intermediate module.
Most web browsers have an inbuilt search button. See if you can identify the
Search button on this Netscape Browser Window by rolling over the icon.
(HINT: It's a picture, not text!)
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Notice that the Search button in Internet Explorer looks different:
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Try and identify Explorers Bookmarks icon. It is called 'favorities'.
What can you search for?
Basically you can find out information about everything! Probably
the best way to start is to use a Search Engine. All you need to do is to click
Search on your web browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer) and a page will load
up for you. Here you will be presented with a web page, which has a field in
which you can enter terms to look for. You begin your search by entering some
sort of search criteria into a field on your screen that can be edited, then
pressing the search button.
Searching the Internet for some particular information can be both a frustrating experience and a rewarding one. Its best to start with a particular search engine or directory, looking for what you need.
The way to load a web site is to use a URL, which stands for Universal Resource Locater. For instance the Weavin Home Page is http://www.weavin.org.au.
The http:// part stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. (Hypertext is the program that is used to write the web pages)
The www. stands for World Wide Web.
The 'weavin.' is the Domain Name that has been purchased by the company and
the au. tells you that it is an Australian company.
If you get into trouble as you are searching around the Internet, you can hit your "back" button.
When you are searching the Internet you should try and be as specific as you can in your search. Use phrases to search on a particular topic rather then a general topic. This will reduce the number of pages you will retrieve in your search and will save you time in the long run.