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Feature - User Level: Now you can even control the level of control you have over your search results by selecting one of three different settings: Novice User, Intermediate User, and Expert User. Test them all out and if you decide you prefer one setting more than the other two click on the "Save Your Settings" link at the top of the search results. Feature - Truncation: If you search for the word "food" (without quotes) and place a * at the end of the word to make it "food*" (without quotes) then FyberSearch will display search results that contain "foods" (without quotes) as well as other versions of the word. For more information about these features visit the Help & Features section. Also, you may notice the website and search results being slower than normal. I am in the process of changing database structures for the search results. After the process is complete there will be even more features added to FyberSearch.
I invited Sid to be a guest poster at the FyberSearch news blog and he readily agreed. Thanks Sid :) The Future of Search: The Evolution of the Alternates by Sid Yadav Over the past few years, search engines have developed. I’m not just blabbering here about Google and Yahoo!, nor do I intend to, but I’m also talking about the smaller ones -- LookSmart, Gigablast, SearchHippo, FyberSearch, and possibly countless others – have been evolving through time. If I were to think from a critique’s mind, I would say, “The web’s too big for smaller search engines, face it, you can’t beat Google!” but to me, that’s certainly not the case. I think small search engines have the right to exist, and after all, Google was once small, Yahoo! was once small, Teoma was once small. Everything started off small, but because people saw its potential, it grew big. The current “small,” or as some call it, “alternate” search engines, are no different. If we were to see the potential in them and really encourage them to move forward, gather some investors, and to just take the bull by its horns, there’s no doubt they would be the next to-come Google. Why am I saying this? Well, let me pass on to you a fact. Many think Larry Page and Sergey Brin invented Google. Literally, they did – they’re the co-founders, also known as the creators. However, this is not to say they invented the Google which you see now when you go to www.google.com. They only invented a part of it – the name, and the “starting” technology. In reality, because we saw the potential in it, they saw the potential in it, and thousands saw the potential in it, they went forward to take the effort to turn it into a real company with a team of technical people, executives, venture capitalists, and what not. If we had said that Inktomi was much much better (Inktomi was the biggest at the time that Google was first released in Beta) and that they were no good, would they still have been this great? Personally, I don’t think so. However, let’s not forget the fact that the web has changed from the time Google was invented, and that we are less in-need of good search engines than what we were at that time. We now have good search engines, and some fantastic people running them, but, we’ve got to evolve some time. And this time has to come – whether it’s today or tomorrow, I think we’re getting close to it day-by-day (of course we are!). When I point my browser to the FyberSearch (http://www.fybersearch.com/press.php. ) or the Gigablast Press page (http://gigablast.com/press.html. ), I am pleasantly surprised to see all of the coverage they get/are getting. When both the search engines, FyberSearch and Gigablast, first launched, maybe I should rephrase that, first got known to the public, I watched them as any other user would do. I remember Gigablast had an index of 30 million web pages (http://web.archive.org/web/20020602075638/http://www.gigablast.com/), and FyberSearch was reasonably new. But since their official “known to public” dates, both search engines have gone far. FyberSearch was featured on CNBC (http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CNBCTV/Articles/TVReports/P91256.asp) while Matt Wells from Gigablast has had five interviews since the launch including one on SearchEngineWatch by Gary Price (http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3080321). If we contin
Description Length: Now you can choose the description length of each website shown in the search results. Domain Clustering: Decide if you want multiple results from the same domain name to appear condensed and clustered or normal. Results Per Page: Control the number of results you see per search result page. The smallest number of results per page is 5 and the largest is 100. Currently, FyberSearch provides you with 10 advanced settings to control the search results and how they appear. I am satisfied with that number for now, probably won't be for long though ;-)
1. You can search inside only bold content. 2. You can search inside only content that is placed in the HTML header tags. 3. You can search inside only content that is placed in various types of HTML list tags. I haven't seen any search engines offer these options so I decided to try adding them myself. I tried a few searches and received pretty good results. They were not quite as relevant as searching inside the topic and title though. Every web page must be updated because this type of data has not been cataloged in the past. As time goes on more web pages will begin to show up when you use these new options.
I hope to have a special search for each of their websites in the next few days. I think it will be a valuable resource for users of FyberSearch living in the US. Check back often for the latest updates.
Below each URL you will have the option to search only that domain name, see what it looks like to a web crawler or delete it from the list. In the future I plan to add the following options: 1. Automatically save more information than the URL such as the title and content data. 2. The option to create folders to help sort the URLs. 3. A form that allows users to upload their own URLs from their home computer. 4. A simple search box to assist in sorting the URLs. Any other ideas you have for this type of feature would be useful. They will be taken into consideration as the saved URLs feature is developed.
In the future I plan to have two advanced search boxes up. One of them will allow you to control the search settings FyberSearch will use by default. The second one will allow you to plcae a search box on your website that gives your users the control over the search settings used by default. Enjoy!
I (Nathan Enns) have finally taken a enough time off from tweaking the FyberSearch source code and answering emails to create a blog. Hopefully I will continue to take enough breaks to keep you updated as new developments are made at FyberSearch. I may even have enough time to post about other websites when they make interesting updates. Located to your left are many links to websites I found interesting to read and use. I tried to list as many useful resources as I could find but if I missed some make sure to let me know. For those of you signed up for the FyberSearch newsletter it will still be sent out as it has been. The release of this blog will not affect the newsletter in any way. If you have any questions or comments please send me an email using the FyberSearch contact page.
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