<TR><TD>In Standard Form</TD><TD>Displays a hot link to the title and the URL of each document; the first several lines of the document; the size; and the date the document was posted to the web.
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>In Compact Form</TD><TD>Displays a hot link to the title of each document; the date posted; and the first several words. The information about each document fits on one line.
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>As a Count</TD><TD>Displays the total number of documents that match the search, without any additional information. This option is available only from the advanced search screen.
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<H4>Notes </H4>
<UL>
<LI>AltaVista Search divides the search results into sets of listings
for display. You can click on a number at the bottom of the page,
or click on the Next or Previous jump, to display a new set of
listings. <BR>
<LI>If you are doing a simple search, or if you do an advanced
search with ranking, AltaVista Search displays a maximum of 200
listings regardless of how many documents it found that matched
the search criteria. For information about how AltaVista Search
chooses the documents to display first, see <A href ="#simprank">How the Results are Ordered.</A>
</UL>
<HR SIZE=3>
<H2><A NAME="keyword">Using Keywords to Refine Searches</A> </H2>
<P>
Both the simple and advanced search interfaces support the use
of keywords to restrict your searches to pages that meet specific
criteria regarding the structure and contents of a web page. Using
keywords, you can search based on a URL or portion of a URL, or
based on the links, art, text, and coding that a web page contains.
With keywords, you can do useful things such as
<UL>
<LI>Find all pages on a certain <A href="#geog">host</A> or in
a specific naming domain.
<LI>Find all pages that contain <A href="#mypage">links</A> pointing
to your own web page.
<LI>Find all pages that contain a specific class of <A href="#java">Java applets</A>.
</UL>
<P>
To search based on keywords, enter a query in the format <B>keyword:</B><I>search-criteria</I>
where:
<UL>
<LI><B>keyword</B> is any of a list of special items for which
AltaVista can find (see below)
<LI><I>search-criteria</I> is the string or condition that you
want to match.
</UL>
<P>
You must enter the keyword in lowercase, followed immediately
by a colon. The conventions for specifying a phrase in the search
criteria are the same as for specifying a phrase in a regular
query; the most convenient method is to enclose the phrase in
double quotes.
<P>
The following table describes the keywords that AltaVista Search
<TR><TD valign=top><B>anchor:</B><I>text</I></TD><TD>Finds pages that contain the specified word or phrase in the text of a hyperlink.
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD valign=top><B>applet:</B><I>class</I></TD><TD>Finds pages that contain a Java applet of the specified class.
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD valign=top><B>author:</B><I>text</I>
</TD><TD>Finds mail messages or documents with the name entered as the author.
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD valign=top><B>domain:</B><I>domainname</I></TD><TD>Finds pages with the specified word or phrase in the domain name of the web server where the page exists (the rightmost portion of an Internet hostname is the domain name).
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD valign=top><B>host:</B><I>name</I></TD><TD>Finds pages with the specified word or phrase in the hostname of the web server where the page exists.
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD valign=top><B>image:</B><I>filename</I></TD><TD>Finds pages that have an image tag with the specified filename.
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD valign=top><B>link:</B><I>URLtext</I></TD><TD>Finds pages that contain at least one link to a page with the specified text in its URL.
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD valign=top><B>location:</B><I>directory location</I></TD><TD>Finds documents located at the value specified.
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD valign=top><B>subject:</B><I>text</I></TD><TD>Finds documents or mail messages that contain the subject entered.
</TD></TR>
<!-- COMMENT OUT
<TR><TD valign=top><B>from</B><I>"text"I></TD><TD>Finds all mail messages sent from the specified entry.
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD valign=top><B>to</B><I>"text"</I></TD><TD>Finds all mail messages sent to the specified entry.
</TD></TR>
END COMMENT OUT -->
<TR><TD valign=top><B>text:</B><I>text</I></TD><TD>Finds pages that contain the specified text in any part of the page other than an image tag, link, or URL.
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD valign=top><B>title:</B><I>text</I></TD><TD>Finds pages that contain the specified word or phrase in the title.
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD valign=top><B>url:</B><I>text</I></TD><TD>Finds pages that contain the specified word or phrase in the URL.
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>
The <B>url</B>, <B>host</B>, and <B>domain</B> keywords all serve
a similar purpose in that they search for URLs based on a specific
portion of the URL itself, or on the hostname or domain name where
the web page exists.
<P>
The <B>link</B> and <B>anchor</B> keywords are similar in that
they both look for information about jumps. The <B>link</B> keyword
looks for text in a URL that is the target of a jump (for example,
<B>http://www.abc.org/help.html)</B>, whereas the anchor keyword
looks for the actual text of a hyperlink as users would see it
on a web page (for example, <B>click here</B>).
<P>
The <B>text</B> and <B>title</B> tags both search for the contents
of a document itself. The <B>text</B> keyword finds any visible
text (other than tags, links, and URLs) within a document, whereas
the <B>title</B> keyword restricts the search to text that the
document's author coded as part of the <title> tag. The
title is what appears in the window banner of your web browser.
The <B>title</B> keyword can be a good way to hone your search
to only the most significant pages about a topic.
<P>
Note that, in the Advanced search interface, you can enter a logical
expression (containing any combination of the AND, OR, NEAR and
NOT operators) as the search criteria. For example, if you want
to find a web page whose title contains both the words spreadsheet
and training, you could enter a query in the form
<P>
title:(spreadsheet AND training)<BR>
<P>
For additional information on advanced search operators, see <A href="#advance">Doing an Advanced Search</A>.
<DD>Matches pages containing the Java applet class named <STRONG>NervousText</STRONG>.
<BR>
<DT><STRONG>author:Fred Flintstone</STRONG>
<DD>Matches mail or documents with the author <STRONG>Fred Flintstone</STRONG>
entered as the author.<BR>
<!-- COMMENT OUT ****
<DT><STRONG>from"Flintstone"</STRONG>
<DD>Matches mail sent from <STRONG>Flintstone</STRONG>
entered as the sender in the from: field.<BR>
<DT><STRONG>to"Barney Rubble"</STRONG>
<DD>Matches mail sent to <STRONG>Barney Rubble</STRONG>
entered as the recipient in the to: field.<BR>
END COMMENT OUT -->
<DT><STRONG>location:"c:\My Documents"</STRONG>
<DD>Matches documents in the locations <STRONG>C:\My Documents</STRONG>.
<BR>
<DT><STRONG>subject:altavista</STRONG>
<DD>Matches mail messages with the word <STRONG>altavista</STRONG>
in the title.<BR>
</DL>
<HR SIZE=3>
<H2><A NAME="meta">Influencing How AltaVista Search Indexes Your
Web Page </A></H2>
<P>
Normally, AltaVista Search indexes all words in a web page, and
displays the first few words as a short abstract when it returns
the page as a search result.
<P>
You can use META tags in your web page to
<UL>
<LI>Supply additional keywords that influence how AltaVista Search
indexes your page.
<LI>Specify your own description to display as the result of a
search.
</UL>
<P>
For example, suppose you have a web page that advertises a pet
grooming service. Alta Vista search automatically indexes all
words in the page. However, you might think of a few alternate
words or phrases that describe your service but do not appear
in the page. Use the META tag and specify name="keywords"
to add these phrases to the index and increase the chance that
users will find your page:
<P>
<META name="keywords" content="pet grooming,
coat beautification, split ends">
<P>
The description META tag allows you to specify what you want in
the abstract that appears as the result of a search. For your
pet grooming page, you might want a short promotional phrase like
the following:<BR>
<P>
<META name="description" content="We specialize
in grooming poodles."><BR>
<P>
AltaVista Search indexes all words in the description tag in addition
to those in the keyword tag. So in this example, users would be
able to find your page by searching for "poodles" as
well as for "pet grooming," "coat beautification,"
or "split ends."
<P>
Instead of displaying the first several lines of the web page,
the search result would show the text of the description tag instead:
<DL>
<DT><B>Poodle Cuts, Inc. </B>
<DD><BR>
We specialize in grooming poodles.<BR>
<EM>http://poodlecuts.org/ - size 3k - 29 Feb 96</EM>
</DL>
<P>
Note that description and keyword tags can be a maximum of 1,024
characters long.
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="Preview">Preview</A> </H2>
<UL>
<LI><A href="#viewdoc">Viewing a document</A>
<LI><A href="#opendoc">Opening a document quickly</A>
</UL>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="viewdoc">To view a document</A> </H2>
<P>
AltaVista Search My Computer displays a list of retrieved items
that match the query. To view and use the search results:
<OL>
<LI>Click on the title of the document to view it in its native
application (for example: Microsoft Word for .doc files).
<LI>Click on the path of a file to launch the Outside In Quick
Viewer.
</OL>
<H4>Note: </H4>
<DL>
<DT>
<DD>The Outside In Quick Viewer must be installed to view files.
If Quick View is not available, either your program doesn't support
it, or it is not installed on your computer. Quick View is an
installable Windows component.
</DL>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="opendoc">To open a document quickly</A> </H2>
<OL>
<LI>Click on the path of a file in the list of files found.
<LI>The Outside In Quick Viewer displays the document containing
the word or phrase.
</OL>
<H4>Note: </H4>
<DL>
<DT>
<DD>The Outside In Quick Viewer must be installed to view files.
If Quick View is not available, either your program doesn't support
it, or it is not installed on your computer. Quick View is an
installable Windows component.
</DL>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="tipsandtricks">Tips and Tricks</A> </H2>
<h4>Managing passwords</h4>
<UL>
<LI>Click the checkbox to save passwords when you first log-in. If you do not, every time you try to open personal mail in a Microsoft Exchange mail folder, you will be prompted for your password.
</UL>
<h4>Displaying results</h4>
<UL>
<LI>Surprised by the number of results returned? Remember AltaVista Search counts every single word in your query, but displays the best results first.
<LI>If you are expecting AltaVista Search to return many results, try displaying the results in Compact Form.
</UL>
<h4>Changing index settings</h4>
<UL>
<LI>If you want to change index settings, double-click on the indexer icon in the task bar.
</UL>
<h4>Using combinations of words </h4>
<UL>
<LI>To ensure all combinations of words are included in your query, consider alternate representations of words: television TV.
<LI>To find related words in a query, it is a good idea to enter synonyms: flu influenza virus
</UL>
<h4>Using upper-case and lower-case letters</h4>
<UL>
<LI>Entering a query with upper-case letters matches only words with that spelling. Paris matches Paris, but not paris or PARIS.
<LI>Enter lower-case words to match any case: tokyo matches Tokyo, TOKYO, tokyo, ToKyo.
</UL>
<h4>Finding words with special characters </h4>
<UL>
<LI>If you are unsure about entering special characters in your query, just omit the characters: ΘlΘphant also matches elephant.
<LI>To find words in your native language, try entering the special characters in your query. For example, enter Fßilte for an Irish welcome.
</UL>
<h4>Finding a phrase</h4>
<UL>
<LI>To find a phrase, use double quotes: "Santa Claus", or use punctuation with no space between the words: deja-vu.
</UL>
<h4>Using + and - in searches </h4>
<UL>
<LI>To ensure a word is present in a document, add a plus sign: +noir+film
<LI>To ensure a word is not present in a document, enter a minus sign. For example, +pinot+noir-"pinot noir"
</UL>
<h4>Finding a family of words </h4>
<UL>
<LI>To find a family of words in one query, use the * notation. For example, colo*r matches color and colour. The query invest* matches words like invest, invester, investers, investment, and investing.
</UL>
<h4>Limiting your search</h4>
<UL>
<LI>To limit your search to local documents, try selecting My Computer Documents from the drop-down menu labeled Search.
<LI>To search for information in your mail messages, try selecting My Computer Mail from the same menu.
</UL>
<h4>Refining a search</h4>
<UL>
<LI>To refine a search, try entering a keyword. See the Help on <A href = "#searchtopic">Search</A> for examples.
</UL>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="questions">Questions and answers</A> </H2>
<H4>I know a mail in my Exchange folder matches my query, but
AltaVista Search My Computer did not find it. Why not? </H4>
<DL>
<DT>
<DD>The following reasons may explain why AltaVista did not find
the mail, file, document, or web page:
</DL>
<UL>
<LI>The message you are looking for is new. AltaVista searches
local and shared resources for new message to add to its index,
but it is likely that it will not find a brand new message if
the index has not been recently rebuilt.
<LI>The message or document may have security restrictions. For
example, the message may be protected behind a gateway or firewall.
Some documents are on corporate servers that are not publicly
accessible, and AltaVista does not attempt to access them.
</UL>
<H4>AltaVista Search My Computer found a page I wanted to look
at, but when I attempted to retrieve it, I got an error. Why?
</H4>
<DL>
<DT>
<DD>This can occur when the status of the file, message, or the
server it is on, has changed since AltaVista last retrieved and
indexed it.
</DL>
<UL>
<LI>The page may have been renamed or removed by the owner.
<LI>The network drive may be down at the moment.
<LI>Access restrictions may have been introduced at the network
location since AltaVista retrieved the page.
<LI>The network location may be so overloaded that attempts to
connect to it time out.
</UL>
<H4>AltaVista Search My Computer found some files that do not
match my query. Why? </H4>
<DL>
<DT>
<DD>AltaVista indexes the contents of a document as of the day
it finds it, or at the time setup for an index build. It is possible
that the owner of the document has made some modifications since
AltaVista retrieved and indexed it. Even though the original document
matched the query, the new version might not. When AltaVista finds
a document that does not appear to match the query, the most likely
explanation is that it does indeed match, but in some way that
is not very obvious. For example:
</DL>
<UL>
<LI>Words and phrases in a simple query need not all be present
in a document to be considered a match; only one is required.
Otherwise they only affect the order in which those documents
are presented to you.
<LI>Punctuation in a query and in a document are both generally
treated as white space for matching purposes; also, lower case
letters in the query are generally considered as matching the
corresponding upper case letters as well. So, the simple query
"John Smith", intended to look for references to this
person, will match a document that by chance contains the phrase
"John. Smith", i.e. a phrase with John at the end of
one sentence, and Smith at the beginning of the next.
</UL>
<H4>After installing, I tried to find a phrase that I know is
in a document on my hard disk. Why did AltaVista not find it?
</H4>
<DL>
<DT>
<DD>This can occur if you have not built an index of the files
on your hard disk. Remember, AltaVista Search My Computer needs
to have an index created before it can find the phrase.
</DL>
<UL>
<LI>Click on the index icon in the Windows 95 tray, or select
the Indexer from the taskbar.
<LI>Add your hard disk to the index source, and build the index.
