Module 1

Module 1

Trang Ngo - ENGH507 - January 30, 2023

Using Web Browsers

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

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

      2. The browser that I use often is Chrome - which is associated with Google. When opening up Chrome, visitors are already taken to their “Homepage” that shows their selected theme for the browser, a Google Logo (with possible changes in design based on any holidays or special events that Google likes to mark), and a selection of the users created shortcuts to pages that they visit often.

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

      3. The default setting for Google Chrome is to be created and linked with the Google account that a user has. Unfortunately, I believe that the Google Chrome setup is rather set based on the layout of Chrome itself and is unchangeable except for the design layout of the “home” page or New Tabs page. Users do have the option of changing their default web search engine to be other search engines (i.e Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Bing, etc.)

  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?

    3. The appearance of Google Chrome can be altered by going into the settings, navigating to the “Appearance” tab, and choosing a different theme or color scheme. The font size can’t really be altered unless the user uses the “Zoom-in” or “Zoom-out” function on the settings bar. This will ultimately enlarge or shrink the entire webpage, not just the fonts.

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

    4. The default search engine associated with my web browser is Google. As it is already Google Chrome and I set my default browser as Google, I am able to just search what I need just by either entering the URL or search words into the search bar above and I will be lead to the Google search page.

    Searching the Web

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

    1. In the search box, type in learning to make web pages and click on the "Search" button. How many matches did you get?

      2. There were a total of 2 billion responses to the search, with the first four results being Ads for very commonly used sites such as SquareSpace, Wordpress, etc. There were also videos that show the basic beginnings or “free courses” that users can watch. As I kept scrolling more results showed easy to follow steps to create web pages, but I slowly started to see results that link to courses where a user has to pay to have access to learn.

    2. 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?

      3. These yielded different results compared to the other search results. There were only 23,900 results when I entered the new search as compared to the numerous results that came with the previous search. There was only one Ad in this search but no videos and a lot more forums where other people posed questions about web designing.

    Repeat the same tasks for the following websites:

  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)?

    6. While Yahoo, Bing, and DuckDuckGo generated results ranging in the millions, Kartoo only generated 10 results. It was also my first time hearing about this search engine. The Kartoo search engine seems to narrow down the search in a detailed manner of selecting specific results. From what i’ve seen. They were all “beginner” or “into” courses or tips for the users. Although the search engine looks a little simple, I could see myself checking Kartoo out, but habits are hard to break and I know I would easily overlook a search engine like this and go with Google for ease of access since it is already present on my browser.

  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.

    7. Although at first glance, it does look like a search engine, upon actually using it, I believe that this website is somewhat a cross between a search engine and a dictionary. The website provides almost an overload of information upon any search from history to definitions, etc. I did an example search for “cats” and received almost too much information regarding the topic - although interesting, there was a lot.

    Using Metasearch Sites

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

    1. What is the main difference between a metasite and a regular search site?

      2. A metasite returns the best results from the regular search sites.

    2. Do a search for learning to make web pages. How many matches did you get? How are the matches organized?

      3. Although I did not see the count of the results, it seems like the results were compiled from all the other popular search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc.

    3. 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?

      4. Despite a few ads, a lot of the results are related to creating web pages or learning to set up web pages or giving you lessons or information about basic HTML.

    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.

    1. Is there a way to search specifically for multimedia?

      2. For the purpose of this part, I chose to go search through Yahoo.com. On the home page, there isn’t a way to search for multimedia but instead different sections of news or categories to search in.

    2. If yes, what specific elements can you search for? What are your options? (If not, try another site!)

      3. For Google, if you want to specifically search for images, there is an “Image” tab on the top right corner near where a user’s profile picture and dropdown menu for the user. There we are able to search for images but there are no other multimedia options. Those only appear when you enter in a search through the normal search bar.

    3. Do a search for a specific media item (e.g., your favorite song, a picture of Britney Spears). How many matches do you get?

      4. I did a search on an Asian pop group and received many results - although in Google, there is no results count, I can infer that there are many results based on the content that this group has released.

    4. Are there any warnings, disclaimers, or other information provided about using the results of your multimedia searches embedded in the search interface?

      5. Unfortunately there are no warnings, disclaimers or any other information provided unless we specifically go towards a “SafeSearch” tab at the top corner of the Google Images search.

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

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

      2. 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.”

      One might use this as a search engine for images and other media that is safe to use freely and avoiding any copyright infringements from the original poster/creator(s).

    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?

    11. There are so many search engines out there on the web but not all of them will match the way that I like to search or am looking for results. As for the things that I’ve seen, I definitely would want to create a website that is appealing but accessible to all the visitors who come to my page. I would like to help visitors narrow their search for what they need without having too many options as it can be quite overwhelming with millions to billions of results available to choose from.