Using Web Browsers

1. Click on the "Home" button in your browser.

a. What is the title and URL of the web page you are defaulted to?

I am redirected to the Firefox home page / tab, which does not have a URL




Why did this appear? How can you change this default setting so that another web page automatically loads when you launch the web browser?

• This is the defualt for Firefox
• You can open the settings, and there are changes to the default under "home"

2. Can you change the appearance of web pages within your browser (e.g., the font face and size)? If so, how? Why would you want to?

You can change the apperance of webpages, most simply via CTRL + or - which increases the size of content on the page. Depending on the resolution of the monitor, or other accessability challenges you may need to increase the size of text to make it more readable. Some browsers now include "dark mode" to reduce contrast and make large sections of text easier to read.




3. What's the default search engine associated with your web browser? How do you get to it?

Google is built into firefox and you can use the search bar to access it without navigating to the site. This can also be changed to other options like DuckDuckGo





Searching the Web

4. Head to Google (http://www.google.com).

• a. In the search box, type in learning to make web pages and click on the "Search" button. How many matches did you get? Visit a couple of the sites in the search results list. Can you estimate how many of the searches actually relate to learning to make web pages?
• b. Return to the front page of Google. In the search box, type in"learning to make web pages"(with quotation marks) and click on the "Search" button. How many matches did you get? Link to a couple of the sites in the search results list. Can you estimate how many of the searches actually relate to learning to make web pages?



Google

A. It returned About 2,990,000,000 results (0.66 seconds). All of the results on the first two pages seemed directly related to learing how to make websites.

B. About 21,700 results (0.68 seconds) were returned. There were far more results that seemed to be asking about specific problems or challenges people were having while learning or working on websites. Only about half of the results seem to be as relevant as the first search.




Bing

A.About 139,000,000 results were returned. The majority of these webpages were the same as the google results. W3 school, codeacademy etc.

B. Returned About 167,000,000,000 results. Unlike the google search with quotations, all the results returned are similar and relevant. There seem to be more specific results, like using Dreamweaver or learning to Make a Website. But 90% of results seem relevant.




Yahoo

A.About 139,000,000 results were returned. The majority of these webpages were the same as the google results. W3 school, codeacademy etc.

B. Returned About 167,000,000,000 results. Unlike the google search with quotations, all the results returned are similar and relevant. There seem to be more specific results, like using Dreamweaver or learning to Make a Website. But 90% of results seem relevant.




Duck Duck Go

A. I was unable to find a specifc number of or estimate of results returned, though I found the results to be nearly identical to Google.

B. DuckDuckGo returned the same results with the quotation marks and without the quotation marks.




Kartoo

A. Kartoo returned 10 total results. Of the 10, 9 were directly relevant and 1 seemed only slightly related.

B. Kartoo returned 10 more results but this time none of them were relevant at all to learning about or making web pages.





Are the number of hits consistent across search engines? If not, what do you think accounts for the differences? After looking at each of the above search engines, in what cases would you use a search engine that is not your current default (most likely Google)?

The numbers seem to vary slightly, mostly between Kartoo and the other more well known search engines. For me I see little reason to switch from Google, especially after this exercise showed me that the results were fairly uniform. I do like the privacy / security additions to DuckDuckGo but it has yet to be enough of a personal issue to make the switch from Google. My assumption is that companies pay to have their sites pushed up or down these results, and that is where we see the majority of discrepancey.





6. Take a look at Wolfram Alpha (http://www.wolframalpha.com/). Is this a search engine? If not, what would you call it? If you decide that it is, list the reasons that you would classify it as a search engine.

I do not consider wolframalpha alpha a search engine because it's primary function is not to index and search the world wide web, but rather attempt to answer specific questions or provide specific information about various topics that may or may not be related to the web. When I ask Wolfram to help me with a math problem it attempts to do so without providing links to web pages where the specific text I typed in might be found. That is the key difference between something like Google and ChatGPT, even if people often use search engines in a similar manner.





7. Head to Dogpile: http://www.dogpile.com.



• a. What is the main difference between a metasite and a regular search site?
• b. Do a search for learning to make web pages. How many matches did you get? How are the matches organized?
• c. Visit a couple of the sites in the search results list. Can you estimate how many of the searches actually relate to learning to make web pages?



• a. A metasearch engine is a search engine that uses the results from multiple other search engines to create its own listings, by aggregating the results and presenting them in a single list.
• b. Dogpile did not display a specific number of results but there appear to be millions of pages. The top of the page is more specific search options, and then the results are displayed in a familiar style as the other search engines, with the link title overtop of the url, followed by a snipit from the opening paragraph.
• c. Every single result in the first two pages at least had something to do with the process of learning, setting up, or practicing building a web page. Some offered services but all of the results visited were at least related.




8. Either head to one of the search sites we've already used or head to one we haven't yet used and explore the front page of the site.

• a. Is there a way to search specifically for multimedia?
• b. If yes, what specific elements can you search for? What are your options? (If not, try another site!)
• c. Do a search for a specific media item (e.g., your favorite song, a picture of Britney Spears). How many matches do you get?
• d. Are there any warnings, disclaimers, or other information provided about using the results of your multimedia searches embedded in the search interface?


• a. Yes, though not obvious from the home page. Once you've typed in a word or phrase you can easily switch for the type of media you are looking for.
• b. Images, Videos, Books, Maps
• c. Millions of results returned for "black short hair cats" and I was even provided additional suggestions for further specific searches related to "black short hair cats" like "cute black short hair cats"
• d. Under the image when expanding the result, Google provides a disclaimer "Images may be subject to copyright. Learn More" with the learn more link leading to a legal help page titled "What is Copyright?"




9. Visit the Creative Commons site: http://www.creativecommons.org

• a. What is creative commons? Why might you want to use this search engine for images and other media?



Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that provides free legal tools to help people share their creative works. These tools allow creators to license their work in a way that lets others use and build upon their work with proper credit, legally. You may want to use a Creative Commons search engine for images and other media because it allows you to find and use media that is free to use, share, or modify.





Heading

As a writer and digital content creator learning about web development, exploring the world of search engines has taught me the following key points that will influence the choices I make as a web designer:

• Importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO): I learned how important it is for a website to be optimized for search engines, as this directly affects its visibility and ranking on search engine results pages.
• Fair Use: I may want to consider using Creative Commons when finding images for my company website, reaching out to the original creator or ensuring fair use. This is easily overlooked when quickly searching for relevant images.
• User Experience: I learned how important it is to have a website that is user-friendly, easily navigable, and provides a positive experience for visitors. This will be a key consideration in my web design work.