Search Engine Reviews and Search Tips: Deja News and LookSmart
about a subject, LookSmart (http://www.looksmart.com) is a great place to go. It claims to contain the largest number of reviewed sites (over 250,000) on the Web, divided into 16,885 categories. LookSmart also gives you access to Alta Vista's search system for more detailed searches.
You can search all of LookSmart's reviewed sites or a specific category of sites. LookSmart is arranged in a subject hierarchy (somewhat similar to Yahoo). Using the Explore mode, you can choose a subject, view its entire hierarchy, and browse sites in the lowest level of the hierarchy (e.g. Sports and Recreation; Ice and Snow Sports; Skiing; Cross Country Skiing).
LookSmart's design is clear and easy to navigate. The reviews are brief, but do give you an idea of what the site contains. The sites that LookSmart considers the best are presented first.
Results contain LookSmart's hierarchical classifications, but don't include Web addresses. To me, this a shortcoming. Web addresses can be informative and are a convenience if you don't have time to immediately view a site.
Searching LookSmart
The only search syntax available in LookSmart are quotation marks to enclose phrases. All the search words or phrases you enter are required to appear in every result. LookSmart's system automatically searches for the roots of a search word and includes various forms of the word in the results.
If your search in LookSmart yields few or no results, you'll be presented with the results of a search in Alta Vista using your search term. If your results aren't focused enough (as is often the case), you'll have the opportunity to continue searching Alta Vista through LookSmart. You can revise your search using Alta Vista's simple search syntax (e.g. plus and minus signs), but you'll have to go to Alta Vista to use its Refine feature or Advanced Search mode.
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