Search ToolsSearch tools help you find information on the Internet. A search tool allows you to request very specific information about a particular subject. Most search tools have a form into which you enter the subject of your search. However, even if your Web browser doesn't "support forms", there are still ways for you to search (Gopher is one possibility).
There are two types of search tools. The first type is oriented more toward easy browsing, and organizes information in a classificatory scheme, possibly by alphabetization or chronology. These tools require a great deal of human intervention to collect and maintain information. Yahoo, EINet Galaxy, Global Network Navigator, and Yanoff's Special Internet Connections are all examples of this type of search tool.
The second type of search tool collects information in more automatically and has two components: searching and collecting. The user's only interaction with these search tools is on the "search" side. These tools collect data by sending out an automated robot to roam Internet sites. The robot sorts and indexes the information to create a database. Examples of this type of search tool (also called "search engine") are WebCrawler, Lycos, WWWW (World Wide Web Worm), and Infoseek.
The success of a search engine, no matter what type, is largely dependent upon the speed of its searches, the availability of its search features, its ease of use, and the currency, size, and quality of its database.