The results in Alta Vista contain the title of the item, a description, the url, when the site was last modified (very useful), the page size and the language in which it's written.
You can choose to have Alta Vista instantly translate any resulting web page into one of six languages by choosing translate (which appears at the end of every result).
Save Desired Results When You See Them
When you do find an item that meets your needs, I'd suggest saving it so you can quickly go back to it. Alta Vista (to a greater extent than other major search engines in my opinion) has a disconcerting way of ordering your results in different ways from minute to minute, so that the item you see on page one might be buried on page four the next time you search.
I've often been able to find exactly what I'm looking for on Alta Vista, but it hasn't always been on the first or second search. When you're accessing this huge search engine, it pays to try several search approaches before moving on.
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