Scope
A search engine with a longer
existence than many, Lycos is keeping
up by strong relevancy ranking capabilities
and providing a mix of features. As
is the trend with the major search tools,
Lycos is a conglomeration of databases,
online services and other Internet properties.
Top 5% sites with reviews and immediate
links to images and sound including
MP3 compressed music audio files for
downloading are provided. To supplement
information accessed by search engines,
Lycos has added its Invisible Web Catalog
of more than 7,000 specialty search
resources. Users can browse the listings
or follow the links provided in search
results for a topic. By clicking on
a link one can access the information
in databases that are invisible to search
engines.
Interface
Lycos offers both a simple
and an advanced search. Their advanced
interface includes numerous options
to create and to modify the search logic.
You can specify that results include
the search terms in just the title,
the URL or find either complete or partial
terms within a specific Web site. There
are 25 languages that can be specified
for searching.
Logic
- Boolean and is the default.
- The advanced interface allows the
searcher to specify and, or, not between words.
- Using a minus sign - before a term eliminates it from the
search.
- Using a plus sign + ensures it will be included.
- For relationships between words
use adj., near, far or before.
Results
Provides search results grouped
by site but no option to ungroup the
results. There are four categories of
results: Popular, Web Sites, News and
Shopping. Provides number of hits, title
and a brief summary. After the initial
search you may click for various options:
match categories from their subject
directory as well as multimedia or book
links, go to matching categories from
Open Directory or refine the search
or search within your hits.
Lycos...Lycosidae, the
Wolf Spider, a cosmopolitan family of
relatively large, active ground spiders
that catch their prey by pursuit rather
than in a web. Noted for their running
speed, they are particularly active
at night. |
