Which search engine?

Hello all,

I am often reminded of how creepy Google is in tracking, watching, and
taking over (as in displaying copyrighted works without permission).
Then I wish for a better option for my own searches, and even for
listing my own site on.

Are there any decent (or even someone decent) search engines out there,
or is Der Google Nazi in Sheep's Clothing the only real option?

Lynne

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Yahoo has totally ruined their search. They've taken over and
hijacked all of your searches with their idiotic "auto
complete" which disables any previous searches'
auto-complete-and-remember that you've previously done! I use
SE's to do the same searches over and over to check rankings,
and with Y you can no longer do that, unless you feel like
manually typing over and over again the same several dozen
searches manually. Plus, they've removed the option to open
links in new window. Obviously, they think that users are only
going to click on ONE LINK in the results and that's it. Now
you have to right click and open in a new window, another step
previously unnecessary.

You would think they would be doing things to make things
EASIER for users to compete with G, but they've done the
opposite. "Well done Yahoo";.

G is evil indeed (a long history of that toward small site
owners), but because of their advanced search options, results'
links opening in new windows, and them still allowing your
auto-complete of previous searches, they are by far the easiest
to use and user friendly......if you don't mind spammy blackhat
irrelevant results and Chi*nese scam sites in your results.

MSN doesn't seem to have changed anything with their interface,
still allows auto-complete but you have to right click the
links to have them open in a new window. You may have to setup
some ridiculous account on MSN and Y now in order to have
special preferences set like opening links in a new window. If
so, I ain't interested, one should not have to "login" to an
account and search, then be tracked with everything you do just
have to nice search options.

There is a hack to use G with their advanced search or personal
preferences options all the time WITHOUT any Cookie.

1. Enable cookies if they are turned off.

2. Go to http://www.google.com/

3. Click on "Preferences" on the right side of the search box.

4. Set your preferences and click "Save Preferences." You're
back to the search box.

5. Click on "Advanced Search" on the right side of the search
box.

6. Do not fill out anything, but just click on "Google
Search."
Update: Place a single space in the main search box and
click on "Google Search."

7. Bookmark this new search page.

8. Disable your cookies for Google.

9. Test your cookie block: Exit and reload your browser - go
to www.google.com - click Preferences on the right side of the
search box - Google should tell you that your cookies seem to
be disabled. Now when you use your new bookmark for Google
searches, your preferences are passed to Google in the URL,
without a cookie. And with cookies disabled, Google won't be
able to associate your search terms with the unique ID number
that they use in their cookie. This is so wonderful that we
think Google will patch this workaround sooner rather than
later (they've ruined the past method). If they do, it will
prove for once and for all that the real reason Google uses
cookies is to track you, and not to set preferences. But you
knew that already, didn't you?

As far as listing your site, you don't really have a choice.
Unless you block their bots via robots.txt, they theoretically
will eventually index you. If you're not in G, you're in bad
shape because unfortunately that's what a huge majority of
people use, so you'd be losing a huge amount of traffic, and
sales.
-Clint

God Bless
Clint Hamilton, Owner
http://www.OrpheusComputing.com
http://www.ComputersCustomBuilt.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "lynne.dixon01"

Hello all,

I am often reminded of how creepy Google is in tracking,
watching, and
taking over (as in displaying copyrighted works without
permission).
Then I wish for a better option for my own searches, and even
for
listing my own site on.

Are there any decent (or even someone decent) search engines
out there,
or is Der Google Nazi in Sheep's Clothing the only real option?

Lynne

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Thursday, May 15, 2008, Clint - OrpheusComputing.com & ComputersCustomBuilt.com wrote:

> Now you have to right click and open in a new window, another step
>; previously unnecessary.
---

On most browsers, Ctrl+Click opens the link in a new window or tab.
Both Firefox 2 and IE 7 under Win XP open the link in a tab behind the
active page. IMO this is great, because I can open several links in
quick succession and then browse through the tabs for the content.

HTH,

--
Geoff Lane
Cornwall, UK

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Yeah, on IE6 it's shift+click, but that's still another extra
step that should not be needed. Simply having the icon to open
the result in a new window was the most user-friendly way.
-Clint

God Bless
Clint Hamilton, Owner
http://www.OrpheusComputing.com
http://www.ComputersCustomBuilt.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Geoff Lane"

Thursday, May 15, 2008, Clint - OrpheusComputing.com &
ComputersCustomBuilt.com wrote:

> Now you have to right click and open in a new window, another
> step
>; previously unnecessary.
---

On most browsers, Ctrl+Click opens the link in a new window or
tab.
Both Firefox 2 and IE 7 under Win XP open the link in a tab
behind the
active page. IMO this is great, because I can open several
links in
quick succession and then browse through the tabs for the
content.

HTH,

Messages in this topic (4) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic

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Thursday, May 15, 2008, Clint - OrpheusComputing.com & ComputersCustomBuilt.com wrote:

> Yeah, on IE6 it's shift+click, but that's still another extra
> step that should not be needed. Simply having the icon to open
> the result in a new window was the most user-friendly way.
---

Where's the extra step? Ctrl+Click (or Shift+Click) is one step, as is
clicking an icon.

However, I can think of a very good reason why Yahoo would remove that
icon - tabbed browsers. Most modern browsers are tabbed and the "open
in new window" functionality varies depending on which browser, how
the functionality is implemented, and the user's settings. FWIW, I've
got complaints from one client where I've set links to open in a new
window. The links do just that, but some want it to open in a new tab
instead. I'm sure that if I implemented it to open in a new tab,
someone would want a new window!

By far the easiest way out this dilemma is to leave it to the user to
open the link in the same window, a new window, or a new tab as they
wish by whichever means they find most comfortable.

HTH,

--
Geoff Lane
Cornwall, UK

Keyboard not connected. Think F1 to continue.

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Ho boy.

Current G, old Y: One left click, link opens in new window.
One simple convenient user-friendly courteous click with the
right hand.

New Y, et al: Right click, then left click to "open in new
window". Or, shift+left click or Ctrl+Click, two hands two
steps.

No matter how you look at it, the typical one single "left
click to open" to open anything without having to use keys
along with it is the quickest and simplest. Anything more is a
step backward in user friendliness.

I don't understand why Y would do that with regards to tabbed
browsing. First, not everyone is using tabbed browsers, I hate
them. I don't want anymore intrusions into the browser window,
and tabs do just that. I prefer to have the open browser
windows at the bottom on the taskbar OUT of my browser windows.
But some like tabbed browsing. Again, it's an available
option. But secondly, the user could click any method they
chose; same window (main link) or new window (icon for it).
Yeah I totally agree that the option should be left up to the
user. But they've totally removed ALL options.

If you mean new browser windows via the target="_blank" method,
that's what I use for links going to outside sites. I'm not
familiar with their behavior on tabbed browsing, but at any
rate at least the window still opens in a new "something". A
way around that (if one wanted to do it) would be you'd have to
have the main (off-site or large page) link open in the new
window, then a icon denoting "open in a new tab". Soon there
may be some kind of JS trick to detect the browser's settings
with regards to tabbed/non-tabbed browsing and have the
(off-site or large page) link automatically open in the method
chosen by the browser's settings.
-Clint

God Bless
Clint Hamilton, Owner
http://www.OrpheusComputing.com
http://www.ComputersCustomBuilt.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Geoff Lane"

Thursday, May 15, 2008, Clint - OrpheusComputing.com &
ComputersCustomBuilt.com wrote:

> Yeah, on IE6 it's shift+click, but that's still another extra
> step that should not be needed. Simply having the icon to
> open
>; the result in a new window was the most user-friendly way.
---

Where's the extra step? Ctrl+Click (or Shift+Click) is one
step, as is
clicking an icon.

However, I can think of a very good reason why Yahoo would
remove that
icon - tabbed browsers. Most modern browsers are tabbed and the
"open
in new window" functionality varies depending on which browser,
how
the functionality is implemented, and the user's settings.
FWIW, I've
got complaints from one client where I've set links to open in
a new
window. The links do just that, but some want it to open in a
new tab
instead. I'm sure that if I implemented it to open in a new
tab,
someone would want a new window!

By far the easiest way out this dilemma is to leave it to the
user to
open the link in the same window, a new window, or a new tab as
they
wish by whichever means they find most comfortable.

Messages in this topic (6) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic

.

Thursday, May 15, 2008, Clint - OrpheusComputing.com & ComputersCustomBuilt.com wrote:

> Current G, old Y: One left click, link opens in new window.
> One simple convenient user-friendly courteous click with the
> right hand.

> New Y, et al: Right click, then left click to "open in new
> window". Or, shift+left click or Ctrl+Click, two hands two
> steps.

> No matter how you look at it, the typical one single "left
> click to open" to open anything without having to use keys
>; along with it is the quickest and simplest. Anything more is a
> step backward in user friendliness.
---

No matter how I look at it, I much prefer an action to give the
desired result. That's so much more user-friendly than taking pot
luck. I know that, in either FF2 or IE7, Ctrl+Click opens a link in a
new tab behind the current page, Ctrl+Shift+Click opens it in a new
tab in front, and Shift+Click opens it in a new window. However, I
cannot be sure what will happen if I click a link that says "open in
new window".

Also, it's hard to second-guess your users. Can you say for certain
whether all your users prefer links to open in new windows or new
tabs? I can't, but I know that if I meet the preference of one group
another will object!

I've just tried to give you some rationale as to why Yahoo! might want
to remove "open in new window" icons. Whether you consider that good
or bad is up to you, but if you have strong objections you could tell
Yahoo! Who knows, if enough of their users do, they might just
reinstate those icons.

HTH,

--
Geoff Lane
Cornwall, UK

Need a solution? ... just add water.

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