Website Design, Promotion, and
Maintenance
Helping Your Business Succeed
Online
Some of the lessons that Alan Pattinson,
president of Pacific Websites, taught in 2001. We could teach you or your staff
similar information in a classroom setting or one-on-one. Become more efficient
with your computer!
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written
by Alan Pattinson
Review (Cheat Sheet)
New!
How to eliminate side-to-side
scrolling and other computer Tips
There is lots of information available on the Internet, but how do you
find specifically what you are looking for? This short introduction will
show you the basics of using Search Engines and Directories
to find information. Efficiency and shortcuts are needed to sift through
over a billion web sites. Overall, remember these three things:
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- Be specific as possible
- Try not to get distracted
- It gets easier the more you use it!
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What you need to know:
All Names mentioned on this page are followed by .com. (e.g. yahoo
means www.yahoo.com) |
WHAT ARE SEARCH ENGINES?
Search engines are huge databases of web page files that have been
assembled automatically by machine. Each one has its own characteristics.
There are two types:
Individual Search Engines compile
their own databases. Examples: Altavista, Google, MSN Search,
AskJeeves, and WebCrawler (simplest).
Metasearchers do not compile
databases. Instead, they use the databases of many individual engines
simultaneously. Examples are: MetaCrawler, Dogpile, Search, and
Copernic (Canadian, requires free download, but worth it)
WHAT ARE DIRECTORIES?
Directories, unlike search engines, are created and maintained by human
editors, not electronic spiders or robots. They tend to be smaller than
search engine databases, typically indexing only the home page of a site.
Their advantage is they give more rounded results than individual search
engines. They may include a search engine for searching their own
directory (or the web, if a directory search yields unsatisfactory results
Examples: Yahoo, and Open Directory Project (Dmoz).
Today, the line between search engines and subject directories is
blurring. Search engines no longer limit themselves to a search mechanism
alone. Across the Web, they are partnering with subject directories, or
creating their own directories, and returning results gathered from a
variety of other guides and services as well.
Back to index at top
BOOLEAN SEARCHES
Use double quotation marks ("like this") around phrases. EXAMPLE: "Bye
bye Miss American Pie" would probably find the song but not include pie
recipes.
Use the plus (+) and minus (-) signs in front of words to include or
exclude words in your search.
EXAMPLE: +anorexia –bulimia (NO space between the sign and the keyword)
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www4.MyBC.com/white
- Find a person’s phone number and address
MapQuest.com
- Find a map for any address.
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PRACTICES:
1. Find your own telephone number
2. Do a "reverse lookup" of your number
3. Find a map for where you live |
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HINTS AND TIPS
To find exactly where on a page your word is, use the "Find"
command on that page.
Example: Internet Explorer has Edit / Find (on this page) |
PRACTICE:
Using the Find on your browser, look for any information about
Comox on this page:
http://www.boat-links.com/linklists/boatlink-19.html |
How to eliminate
side-to-side scrolling.
Problem: You have to use the scroll bar,
left and right, to see a web page on your screen
Solution: Change your computer's Screen Area!
1. Minimize or close all open programs, so your screen shows only
your Desktop (which usually has some icons on the left side)
2. Right click on a clear area on your desktop to open the Display
Properties box.
3. Click on the tab marked "Settings"
4. In the "Screen Area" box, drag the slider so it shows 800 x 600, or
try 1024 x 768. The larger the number, the more you will see on your
screen, but the smaller the print will be.
5. Click OK, and OK again in the next window, and then "Yes" to "Do
you want to keep this setting?"
6. Viola! Your new setting! If you don't like it, try moving the
slider up or down again.
ANOTHER setting which goes hand in hand with this one is the "View/Font(Text)"
setting:
Bigger print: Use the View / Text Size / Largest
at the top of Internet Explorer
Translating: German, Spanish, French, etc. can be translated at:
http://world.altavista.com/
AskJeeves: allows you to ask a question in plain everyday
language. For example, you can type in
Where can I find information about the Comox Valley?
and Jeeves will give you a list of answers. You may still get better
results using key words and phrases, though, even when using this "natural
language" engine.
Use Lower Case: Enter your key words in lower case letters
(unless you know the words will always be capitalized as with Comox Valley
above). Engines will then look for the word in both upper and lower case.
If you type the key word capitalized, the engine will look only for sites
where the word is capitalized.
Back to index at top
Guessing URL’s
| Sometimes you can guess the
address (Universal Resource Locator, or URL) of a particular site.
Most, but not all, business sites on the Web begin with www.
and end in .com. The next step is to guess the domain
name, for example, you could guess that the domain name for Coca-cola
would be www.cocacola.com
Your browser should automatically put the http:// in for you, and
most of the newer browsers even put the www. in for you. |
PRACTICE:
What do you think would be a good guess for the web site for Telus?
Microsoft? Esso? |
| Another method of guessing a
company’s web site is "backing into" the URL.
If you find a page that has /folders/htm after the
.com or .net in the URL, backspace
on the address until you get to the root URL (that ends in .com or
.net, etc.)
Of course, you can also look for a HOME link on
that page.
Back to index at top |
PRACTICE:
Do a search for Comox Valley Marine History on
either Google or Dmoz.
When you find the Comox Valley Harbour Authority History
page, on the URL address bar, backspace to take off the
page7.html and you will be left with the root URL.
Click ENTER and you will go to that site’s home
page. |
Search Engine Resources:
| Top level domain names: |
.com |
commercial business site |
| .net |
networks, ISP’s, and others (loosely regulated) |
| .org |
U.S. non-profit organizations and others |
| .ca |
Canadian |
Error Messages: 404 Not Found, etc. What
do they mean? See the Valleylinks guide: http://www.valleylinks.net/help/error.html
(link not working)
| 9 HOT SHORTCUTS |
Use |
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| Back to previous site |
Backspace |
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| Open a link in a new window |
Hold Shift when clicking on a link |
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| Minimize or Open a window |
Click the program on task bar |
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| Close a browser window |
Ctrl/F4 |
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| Change font size |
Hold Alt/V/X/L makes font bigger |
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| Copy a highlighted area |
Ctrl/C |
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| Paste a highlighted area |
Ctrl/V |
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| Ignore an error message |
Esc |
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| Finish entering a form, login |
Enter (rather than using your mouse) |
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| Resize Your Desktop, or,
How to eliminate side-to-side scrolling.
NEW! |
Problem:
You have to use the scroll bar, left and right, to see a web page on
your screen
Solution:
Change your computer's Screen Area!
1. Minimize or close all open programs, so your screen shows only
your Desktop (which usually has some icons on the left side)
2. Right click on a clear area on your desktop to open the Display
Properties box.
3. Click on the tab marked "Settings"
4. In the "Screen Area" box, drag the slider so it shows 800 x 600,
or try 1024 x 768. The larger the number, the more you will see on
your screen, but the smaller the print will be.
5. Click OK, and OK again in the next window, and then "Yes" to "Do
you want to keep this setting?"
6. Viola! Your new setting! If you don't like it, try moving the
slider again.
ANOTHER setting which goes hand in hand with this one is the "View/Font(Text)"
setting mentioned above.
OK, OK, you can't find it.......here it is:
Bigger print: Use the View / Text Size / Largest
at the top of Internet Explorer
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Back to index at top |
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