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Most of the users of the World Wide Web have presumably used search engines. In fact, what could be easier ? You just type one or several words to search field and click Search button. Within seconds you get a list of links pointing to relevant and interesting documents. Well, maybe in the perfect world but not in practice.
The World Wide Web is decentralized, dynamic and diverse. Therefore navigation is difficult and finding accurate information can be a challenge. The topic of this document are search tools which can help you to conquer this challenge.
In the early 1990s searching the World Wide Web was impossible, and custom indexes maintained by individuals were really the only way to find information in an organized manner. These indexes, also called directories, are still an important tool for searcher, but nowadays there are a number of fast search sites to help point to Internet resources using anything from simple keywords to Boolean search queries.
In the following pages we will discuss how these sites gather their indexes, how you can use those indexes and what you should take into consideration when comparing different sites. We will assume that reader has some familiarity with the Internet and the World Wide Web. If the structure of Internet and concepts like www-client, www-server, html and http sound totally obscure, it is advisable to read some introductory text:
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