Also displayed is the title of the web page the image appears on, the url of the web page, the file name of the image, and (if relevant) the source (e.g. Corbis Collection). Next to the url, there's the familiar Microsoft icon with overlapping squares. If you click this icon, the web page with the image opens in separate window.
Downloading: To download an image, if you have Windows, right click over the picture and select Save Picture As. Select a folder for the image and click Save. If you're using a Macintosh, click and hold on the image and select Save As. Of course, if you want to use the picture in a web page or publication, you're required to ask permission or pay.
Alta Vista Image Search produces a greater number of results and more relevant results than other image search engines I've tried. It's a good engine to search first when you're looking for an image.
DITTO.COM - INFORMATIVE RESULTS - NIFTY IMAGE DIRECTORY
Ditto.com claims that its technology retrieves higher-quality pictures that are more relevant to the searcher's request than other image search engines. This is certainly a commendable goal, but I don't think Ditto.com has attained it.
Its universe of images is relatively small, so search words that are very specific may not retrieve any items. In addition, results of the searches that I did were average or below average in relevance. Nevertheless, Ditto.com has much to recommend it, including a clear and easy-to-use search interface, full and informative results, a list of your past searches, and a handy subject directory of images.
Search Tips: Ditto.com's search system requires each search word you enter to appear in all items that are retrieved (for example, as a keyword, a word in the title, etc.). If you prefer but don't require your keyword to appear in the results, use the OR Boolean operator. Use the NOT operator to exclude a word.
You can also use quotation marks to enclose a phrase and the asterisk to search multiple word endings.
Advanced Search: The Advanced Search mode includes a menu that lets you specify various attributes of an image, (e.g., file type [GIF or JPEG], file size, color depth, picture height and width).
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Paula Dragutsky's Search Engines topic, please visit the Discussions page.