Extreme Searcher's Page: Fast Search Profile

Brief Profile:

Search

www.alltheweb.com

Overview

Home page features

Boolean

Field Searching

Truncation (stem searching) (none)

Output Options

Directory (none)

Summary

Back to the News Page

Back to the Main Page

Overview -Fast Search

Strengths	Weaknesses
Has one of the largest Web databases Simple, for the less-heavy-duty searcher Is indeed very fast	Fairly short on search options (but this is quickly changing)

On Fast Search's home page you'll find:

           Links to:
                FTP Search (link to Lycos' FTP Search)
                MP3 Search (link to Lycos' MP3 Search)
                Picture Search (link to Lycos' "Rich Media Search")
                Listening Room (link to Lycos' Music Search)
                FA Premier - links to sites which use Fast Search?
                Help screen and information about the Fast Search company ( Fast Search & Transfer
                        ASA)

Link to Advanced Search

           Search Options:
                All of the words
                Any of the words
                The exact phrase

Query box

Fast Search Promotional Links

Search Features Provided by Fast Search

Boolean

You have only a "simplified" Boolean option:

Home Page Version of Fast Search:

Example - To require that all pages retrieved have both the words "Chesapeake" and "crabs," enter:

+Chesapeake +crabs

+muskrats -recipes

Also, a pull-down window for "all of the words, " "any of the words"

Advanced Search

The above options as in the home page version

Plus "Word Filter" boxes which have pull-down window for "should include," "must include,"
"must not include"

Field Searching

Language

In the Advanced version, a pull-down window for 25 languages

Title

Use the pull-down window on the right of the "Word Filters" boxes

Link name

Use the pull-down window on the right of the "Word Filters" boxes

URL

Use the pull-down window on the right of the "Word Filters" boxes

                        Also, under the "Domain Filters" section, you can limit or exclude by either
                        the type of domain (.com, .edu, etc.), or by domain name (e.g., onstrat.com)
                        Limitation is that you can only specify one section to the left of the dot.

Link to URL

Use the pull-down window on the right of the "Word Filters" boxes

Note: All multiple words entered in the "Word Filters" boxes are treated as phrases.

Truncation

At present, Fast Search provides no truncation capability.

Output

Summary

Fast Search is now one of the largest Web search engines and very fast. It is simple to use, in part because of the very limited functionality shown on the home page. With the addition of the Advanced Search mode, functionality has been increased tremendously, particularly with regard to field searching.. As a matter of fact, based on its size alone, you should be using this for most searches where you need to be exhaustive. A quick check also indicates that the Fast Search relevance ranking algorithm may be significantly more effective than that of some other major search engines.