module1.3

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?
My default browser is Google Chrome, but I have an extension that shows me different colorful chickens as my homepage. The url is with the Chrome "Tabby Cat" extension (set to chickens).

b. Why did this appear? How can you change this default setting so that another web page automatically loads when you launch the web browser?
I changed my default browser from Safari to Chrome intentionally (and also the chicken extension).

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?
Yes! It's very easy in the settings, and users would want to if they need it to be easier to read, whether that be the size increasing if it's too small, or if the font blurs together.

3. What's the default search engine associated with your web browser? How do you get to it?
Google Chrome. I just have it open at all times, so I don't actually have to click anything. I have so many tab groups it's unreal (and probably not very healthy).

Searching the Web

4. Head to Google.

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?

785,000,000
The first four results are ads, and after that the next several (forty? fifty?) results are all relevant to building websites, so I'm going to assume a lot of them are, but I'm not sure from there how many to estimate out of the 785,000,000.

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?
There are only 21,900.
It's actually a little silly, the first result was one of our classmates' (or a previous student's) websites!
Then it was Prezi.
Then web-site-building-tips.com (which sounds so reputable).

Repeat the same tasks for the following websites:
Bing
165,000,000 vs. 104,000,000
Yahoo
165,000,000 vs. 105,000,000
Duck Duck Go
I was unable to locate anything that told me how many results it yielded.
Kartoo
I was unable to locate anything that told me how many results it yielded.

5. 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)?
They're fairly consistent (with a deviation of about a hundred thousand, but that's less than 1% of the total results) from the search engines that gave me numbers. I think if I had to choose something aside from Google, I'd choose Yahoo over Bing since it had 100,000 more results.

6. Take a look at Wolfram Alpha. 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 think I'd say it's more of a database of limited knowledge as opposed to a search engine. I think I'd classify a search engine as something that searches the entire internet for results, but it seems like this site uses already compiled knowledge as opposed to everything out there.

Using Metasearch Sites

7. Head to Dogpile:.

a. What is the main difference between a metasite and a regular search site?
A metasite uses all of the search engines at its disposal to compile search results, while a regular search site is only able to use the resources on its site.

b. Do a search for learning to make web pages. How many matches did you get? How are the matches organized?
It did not tell me how many matches I got, but it orangized them by most relevant to the search (after the first five results were ads).

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?
They were all relevant to the search, but the first several results (after ads) were all classes/courses to take.

Finding Multimedia Elements

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?
I mean, technically yes? Many of Google's features feature multimedia, like Youtube, News, Gmail, Chat, etc.

b. If yes, what specific elements can you search for? What are your options? (If not, try another site!)
I can search for pretty much anything. Maps, Images, News, Shopping, Books, etc.

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?
I searched "cat memes" and got 172,000,000 results, but to be more specific, I searched "meme of cat coughing like kid" and got 1,760,000 results.

d. Are there any warnings, disclaimers, or other information provided about using the results of your multimedia searches embedded in the search interface?
Unless I actively click on something that is known to not be a secure place, I get no alerts or disclaimers. I do have AdBlockPlus installed as a Google extension though, so that also gives me disclaimers sometimes that Google itself may not give to me.

9. Visit the Creative Commons site:
a. What is creative commons? Why might you want to use this search engine for images and other media?
Creative Commons is "a nonprofit organization that helps overcome legal obstacles to the sharing of knowledge and creativity to address the world's most pressing challenges." Basically, they make sure that everyone gets due credit for their images/contributions to internet creativity so users aren't using stolen/protected images in their daily internet usage. AI is sort of guilty of being negligent to artists, often using references compiled on the internet to "make something new," but is a rip-off of something an artist actually did. This search engine is probably better to use ethically as to make sure everyone is being properly credited for their work and contributions.

Put it all Together

10. Now that you have explored the world of search engines, reflect on the experience. What have you learned that might influence the choices you make as a web designer?
I think I'm very much still going to use Google as my search engine (even if only for my chicken extension) because it looks the cleanest/sleekest to me. Yahoo and Bing both look a little sketchy, like they'd have "click here" tabs. I've learned that even though I'm not much of a web designer yet, it does actually matter (at least to me) how things look and that correlates to how much I trust their results. I'm going to strive to make a very non-sketchy looking site.