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Tips and tricks on the
use of Internet
for diplomats in Geneva
by Stefano Baldi | | |
 The right use of Search Engines
There are two main kinds of search services commonly used on the Web: the index, and the
directory or subject guide. One way to understand the differences between these two kinds of engines
is to think of web sites as books. Indexes will catalogue every word in every book iexamined, and will
list for you each page that contains word(s) you're looking for. Directories and Subject Guides take
the overall subject matter of the books they examine at and list the front covers of the book which
match your word(s).
Indexes
Alta Vista and HotBot, are two popular search indexes. Indexes regularly and automatically scan
the Internet for Web pages and record the HTML content and key words. They also have the ability
to follow any links associated with scanned pages and obtain even more information.
Directories/Subject Guides
Yahoo! and Magellan are two well known hierarchical directories of web page subjects. Each
reference is entered and updated by a person manually, placing each web address in a certain
section much like a telephone company's Yellow Page directory.
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Please send your comments to Stefano Baldi.
This document was updated 31/01/99. 
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