In a search engine you can type the text you're looking for. The search robot will look up your query in a large database of webpages and present you a clickable list of links. Nearly all search engines can be set to search for images too; look for a button to display only graphics. To refine your search query, you can use some search-parameters (see below for more).
These pages will bring you a sorted list of links. You don't need to type in what you're looking for, but you choose out of a listing.
A starting point - a "portal" to the internet. These pages often contain lots of information on many different topics. Often you'll find newspages, weather, lifestyle, computing info,... Mostly they have also an own search engine or links to other search engines.
Using some parameters in the search command will make your search much effective. Most Search Engines have their own set of useful parameters, and their own, sometimes more sophisticated search methods, but most of them understand some common used characters such as [+]; [-]; ["].
Remark : although your search query was formulated well, it's still possible to some unwanted hits; don't let this disturb you, it's not your fault... and you can't do much about it. As in everything with computers, people can mess (create a "hack", or in this case misuse the system), and they do for their own benefit... It's just part of the world we live in...
searching for a hotel in Roma, preferably in the center of the city
+Roma +hotel +history -politics city center
no space between the + or - sign and the words
a space after each word
the system makes no difference between uppercase or lowercase
as the [+] and [-] sings are to be considered as a 'must' or 'must not' (or a
'conditio sine qua non'), this search command will give back links to websites
containing the words Roma AND hotel AND History but WITHOUT the word Politics
if the system finds a website containing also the words city and/or center, that
site will be top-ranked in the results-list, but those words are not considered
as essential to the query
searching for the song text of Imagine by John Lennon, where you known the exact spelling of the words; besides the song text, sites containing also the music are preferred
+"John Lennon" +"Imagine" +lyrics music chords
the search string between " " is an exact text-string to look for (and may contain spaces)
will give back sites containing the complete and exact name of 'John lennon' and 'Imagine', and the lyrics of the song; sites containing also the music will appear at the top of the results-list
make browsing your way through the internet a lot easier and faster...
many times you'll want to have a quick look at another internet-page, without
closing the page you're actually reading (e.g. when searching information with a
search engine), then -
instead of using the "back"-button of your browser all the time - click the links
with your right mouse button and then choose to open the link in a new window
(left-click); each new page will then open in a new window (you can also hold the
[shift]-key while (left)clicking)
this way you can open multiple pages, clicking the different links you want to look at; then you select the pages from below in the windows taskbar, read what you want and close the page to view the next one
but there's a better way to do it, if your browser has tabbed viewing:
in firefox, internet explorer (from version 7.x) and other browsers you can open webpages in a new tab, making browsing a lot easier; just use the same right mouse click and select new tab or hold the [control]-key while (left)clicking a link; the page will open in the same browser window, but in a new tab
now you can view and close the new page(s) separately, or select between pages with the tab-buttons on top of your browser
this method is also very effective to close unwanted screens which you opened by mistake (such as publicity banners): 'cause you opened them in a new window, you can close them without loosing the page you were viewing
to save an image from the internet onto your hard-disk, just move the cursor
over the image and click the right mouse button, then choose "save image as" to
save it (remember to select the location where you want to save the image ;-)
All info provided on an "as is"-basis, without any warranty and/or further
responsibility whatsoever.
All texts are free for personal non-commercial use. Copyright by the NightOwl
(2008).