Definition: Eureka! - Secrets of Searching the Web & Promoting Your Website

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Secrets of Searching the Web & Promoting Your Website

Definition

Eureka - "I have found it!" - Webster's Dictionary

Purpose of Eureka!

Eureka! is designed to make it simple and easy to find anything on the internet without sacrificing any of the powerful yet complex features of the search engines it employs.

The purpose of this document is to show you how to take advantage of the powerful features of Eureka! and at the same time provide you with a brief education about what search engines do, how to use them, and how to submit your website to them. You more advanced readers can jump around to the topics that interest you. If something puzzles you in Eureka! you can always come back here for more information.

Why I Created Eureka!

Anyone who has spent a little time visiting my website, the Silicon Valley Web Directory, will recognize that I have spent a lot of time using search engines on the web to find and incorporate the over 8,500 web pages listed and linked in this directory. In the course of using these engines in tens of thousands of searches, I have learned much about how they work and what they could and could not find. Each engine has its weaknesses and strengths. All are difficult to learn for the beginner and their particular values only becomes apparent to the experienced and expert user. I created this search engine of search engines to make the difficulties of their use disappear and to enable the novice to take advantage of their intrinsic and sometimes almost hidden power. Eureka! accomplishes this in a number of ways.

Features and Benefits of Eureka!

Simplicity

All of the search engine interfaces in Eureka! are configured with default settings to provide the optimal search results in most cases for the user, without the user having to know anything about the engine or the way it works. You simply enter your key words and/or concepts onto the search line and hit Enter on your keyboard or click Search with your mouse.

Powerful Search Capabilities

Virtually all of the options to refine a search using a particular search engine are available in Eureka! The search options can easily be changed from the default to another user specific criteria with a few clicks of the mouse. Some search engines have many more options than others. In fact, a few have no options at all. Those that are available are included in Eureka!

Consistent User Interface

Most of the powerful search options presented to the user by the various search engines are presented in terms, format, and description that differ significantly from each other, yet still perform the same fundamental operation. This is confusing and daunting as one moves from one engine to the other in the quest for information. In many cases, it is often easier and simpler to just ignore these features and do the simple default search.

Eureka! solves this problem of different user interfaces by conforming all of the search engines to its standard and consistent user interface. Regardless of how the search feature is implemented and presented to the user by the search engine, Eureka! presents it in the same way for all search engines. This means you can focus on your search and not on figuring out what the search engine wants you to do.

Common and Simple Terminology

Eureka! employs the same common terminology for all search engine options. It gets beyond the technical jargon and presents options in simple English. Once you learn how to exercise some of the more complex options of a search engine using Eureka!, you can apply that knowledge to all of the other search engines you use in Eureka! The more frequently used terms are defined in more detail in the Quick Guide to Using Eureka!

Convenient and Uniform Options

The options available for each search engine are presented in a compact, convenient, and uniform format. The reset button is in the same location for all engines. The search options and the output options are always in the same place and in the same format. For example, a large array of terminology are used by the search engine creators to describe their output options, and output does vary substantially from engine to engine, but in most cases it usually boils down to the same three options which we simply describe as "Terse", "Standard", or "Verbose".

Another example is in defining how the engine should operate on search words. Most of the engines describe these options in widely differing ways, Eureka! simply states, Match All Terms, Match Any Terms, or Match Exact Phrase. In all cases you will find these options in the same place and in the same format regardless of the search engine you are using.

Consistent Presentation

Many of these search engines ask for the same search options in very diverse ways. Some use Radio Buttons, others use Menu Lists to accomplish the same thing, while still another will use Check Boxes for the same purpose. Eureka! uses the same options input method for all search engines. Once you have learned one you have learned all.

Avoid the Advertisements and Images

Most search engines present advertisements on their search pages and/or have elaborate images and/or image maps on their pages. Some even have lengthy text on their search pages. All of these items are distracting and tend to slow you down with the transfer of bytes either from the search engines site or from the cache file on your disk. Some of the engines rotate the advertisements so that your browser is forced to make calls to their server everytime you return to their page to do a search. This introduces additional network delays to your search. At a busy time of the day, it is quite noticeable. Eureka! provides you a means of avoiding all these inefficient and time consuming "features." By using your BACK button to return to Eureka! to continue your searching, you will be able to search faster and more productively.

Quick Guide to Using Eureka!

We have also provided a fairly detailed explanation of the layout, hotlinks, and most commonly used features and terms in another document you can read called Quick Guide to Using Eureka!