The AltaVista Search Engine

In my opinion Digital's AltaVista is one of the best search engines to use and I would recommend it to anybody. However people often do not utilize all of it's features so I've decided to give a little guide to advanced searching for AltaVista.

* To enter a phrase use speech marks.

e.g. "Cisco Routers"

* To make AltaVista bring up a list of documents which definitely have a certain word put a '+' in front.

e.g. +j-dom

* To make AltaVista bring up a list of documents which definitely do not have a certain word put a '-' in front.

e.g. -Gerbils

Obviously the second two are designed to be used in conjunction with other words.

e.g. +"Terry Farrell" -"Star Trek"

There are also other features which are used for searching with a difference: To find an image of something, type: Image:<image name>.

e.g. Image:Gerbil

To find pages which link to another site type: Link:<address>

e.g. Link:http://www.j-dom.demon.co.uk

Jargon Buster

Hexadecimal

This is a numbering system which is in Base 16. As opposed to Denary (base 10) and Binary (Base 2). Hexadecimal has 16 core digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E and F. The most practical use for Hexadecimal I have come across is for editing colours in web pages (HTML). But it is prominent throughout the technical world.

 

If you need help with any of the Tech Tips, or just general help, then please feel free to e-mail the j-dom Tech Tips editorial team at: j-dom.support@chuck.paralex.co.uk.

by Chuck (also available from his home page)

Technology Index | Back to Home

Dumb | Tek