Though millions of bytes of information await on the Internet, using the World Wide Web to do academic research or finding sites that relate to a favorite pastime can be a daunting and seemingly impossible task.
Luckily, sites on the Internet can make getting to the most relevant information that much easier.
The best of them can make the Internet as fun to browse as the stacks of a well-stocked bookstore, while the worst of them may make watching television or reading a book on the Green seem like a better way to spend the afternoon.
Excite
Excite, located at http://www.excite.com, bills itself as "the intelligent way to navigate the net."
Combining a fairly comprehensive net search with a Yahoo-style directory of the web, Excite is an easy-to-use starting point for users looking to begin their exploration of the web or find a specific Internet resource.
Since it began in 1995, Excite has aggressively promoted itself as an alternative to the popular Yahoo index, attracting publicity by advertising in various computer publications.
Though the print ads have been negative in tone, the company has positioned itself as more up-to-date and comprehensive than Yahoo. Its commercial roots are prominent: as has become common with many Web sites, the site displays advertisements for other companies and web sites at the top of most of its pages.
An Excite search for the words "Dartmouth College" turns up hundreds of matches, including the College home page, The Dartmouth's home page and a hypertext exhibit on the life of college alumnus Daniel Webster, Class of 1801.
One of Excite's useful features is a helpful cross-referencing ability. For each reference that Excite provides as part of its net search, the user can find related pages by simply clicking an icon.
This feature helps make for an ideal general-purpose starting point for the user looking to research a topic, find out about a specific locale or company, or just browse the web without a productive purpose in mind.
Webcrawler
Webcrawler, located at http://www.webcrawler.com is a Web search utility begun originally by University of Washington graduate student Brian Pinkerton in 1994.
Now owned by Global Network Navigator, a subsidiary of Internet giant America Online, Webcrawler has a sparse interface and few cross-referencing features, but its large index of Web pages makes even obscure information accessible.
One drawback to Webcrawler is that the site doesn't return information about the pages that match a user's search request: it provides only the titles of the matching documents.
If a search turns up many documents -- for example, more than 53,000 pages matched the term "Dartmouth College" -- this can make for more difficult browsing.
Nonetheless, Webcrawler may turn up some Web pages that other search engines might miss, such as the home page for Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity or the Dartmouth College Libraries' home page.
AltaVista
A venture of Digital Equipment Corporation, AltaVista is a newcomer to the Web, but already ranks as one of its most useful search engines.
AltaVista, located at http://www.altavista.digital.com/, searches its web index at amazing speed, and, next to WebCrawler, turned up the most hits for "Dartmouth College" of all the search engines tested.
Just for its sheer volume of information and the speed at which it can perform searches, AltaVista makes for an excellent first stop in searching for pages on the Internet.
The site will also search postings in Internet discussion groups, and will even find sites that are linked to pages one may be interested in.
For example, a student could see how many of his friends have created links to his or her home page.
If you're looking to find an old friend, AltaVista suggests using their site to locate them. It is definitely worth trying to search their name on AltaVista.
Yahoo
Yahoo, located at http://www.yahoo.com, was one of the earliest searching and directory mechanisms available on the Internet and remains the largest and most used index of the Web.
Founded in 1994 by two computer science graduate students at Stanford University and now an independent corporation with venture capital and a legion of employees behind it, Yahoo sets the standard for Internet searching and directory services.
Strikingly different from a typical search engine, as an index of the Web, Yahoo offers the Web-surfer the choice to browse for pages by topic. This can make cutting through the clutter of the Web and finding the best pages available that much easier.
For example, if one were interested in looking for sites which related to stock-car racing, but would rather not waste his or her time searching through the 10,000 "hits" that AltaVista offers, one can simply search for NASCAR on Yahoo and browse through sites, which are known to be dedicated to car racing.
A search for "Seuss" on AltaVista will return the viewer to every page which ever mentioned the word "Seuss," but not necessarily those that concentrate on renowned alumnus "Dr. Seuss," Ted Geisel '27.
Yahoo provides a huge amount of pre-screened links (to such pages as http://www.afn.org/~afn15301/drseuss.html, for the curious) and is the ideal place to find pages that relate to a given general topic of interest.
Old Town Crossroads
Not all Internet directories are as useful as the more well-known sites highlighted above. At http://www.gic.net/xroad.html, Old Town Crossroads sets out to be a "graphical Yahoo with a difference."
The site attempts to use a three-dimensional view of a city as a launch-pad from which to explore the Web.
A visit to the site, however, will reveal that this "virtual reality" view is a strictly first-generation attempt, and not a serious contender to provide an easy-to-browse comprehensive directory.
The more sophisticated user will be dismayed at its awkward layout, while the Web neophyte will simply find it hard to use.
The links it provides are strictly mediocre, and a deeper look reveals that site may well be nothing more than another start-up company attempting to make money using the Internet -- for only $35 per month, you, too, could have your site linked to this directory.
If you have unending hours to spare and enjoy watching the "meteor shower" display as Netscape Navigator loads pages and graphics, then a visit to Old Town Crossroads may be worth your time.
Otherwise, it may be best to stick with one of the more established, faster and simply more effective search engines to launch into an exploration of the Internet.
