Kate's Links: Basic Tools

Kate's Basic Tools

The MetaCrawler - when looking for things, I like to start here. Not many bells and whistles, but it's thorough.
WebCrawler Searching - an effective basic search engine with a cloyingly cute set of graphics.
Alta Vista - works, but gives lots of duplicate and non-relevant info. The mountain graphic makes it visually appealing, but don't be mislead by packaging; the metacrawler is meatier.
Yahoo! - this search engine works by subject areas.
The Universal Currency Converter™ -- never again wonder what the going rates for all major world currencies are. Xenon Laboratories has established the UCC to convert any amount of one currency into the equivalent of any other. Great for the arithmetically challenged who don't get the Wall Street Journal for its currency rates (i.e. people like me).
Search Britannica Online -- if you are searching from a subscribed terminal, you can use this resource. Jamestown College has a subscription to this service.
Research-It -- lets you search a wide variety of dictionaries and search engines for answers to your questions. It takes a while to load, but it is a powerful oracle for online information.
Search the Merck Manual - research health and pharmaceutical topics through this incredibly comprehensive search engine for the 1992 edition of the Merck Manual
LISZT - The searchable directory of e-mail discussion groups. This works like a web search engine, but its database is a collection of thousands of email listservs that can help a person discover new mailing lists to join. This directory also rates sites and gives information on each list, if available.
An Introduction to Netiquette -- this part of the "Life on the Internet" site is a good starting point for people learning how to be polite on the internet.
The Internet Tourbus - for introductions to new web sites and guides to hypertext for beginners.
The Internet TOURBUS Archive
The World-Wide Web Virtual Library: Subject Catalogue
The Computer Virus Myths Page - The Internet Tourbus recommends this highly for anyone who would like to learn about computer viruses, how they work, how they don't work and how to avoid getting them through the internet.
"The Nature of the Online Medium," which I excerpted from the text of the current lawsuit against the Communications Decency Act, is a summary for the court explaining exactly what the Internet is and how it works. Bob Rankin of the Internet TOURBUS says, "Using language that ANYONE can understand (even a judge who may have never even seen the Internet), part three is the clearest demystification of the Net that I have ever seen."
Brad Templeton's Information on Copyrights recommended by the Tourbus as a good guide to fair and unfair use of information from the 'net.
A Beginner's Guide to HTML - the best place to start. WHY BUY A BOOK ON THIS STUFF WHEN YOU CAN USE THESE GREAT ONLINE RESOURCES?? Ok, I'm done going crazy and will continue my list now.
The ICON BAZAAR! I love this place for finding good clip art and stuff -- but this page is the coolest -- it has a zillion (216) different html color codes for backgrounds and fonts.
The HTML Compendium -- Gordon the computer wizard found this for me and showed me some fine new commands!
HTML Index -- a very good basic index of codes for making international diacritical marks (among other things...)
HTML Templates - has some nice HTML setups for beginners like me
HTML Quick Reference (10/11/95) - is a nice glossary for those who already understand a bit about HTML syntax and just want to know some more commands.
Hypertext Markup Language - 2.0 - The HTML Coded Character Set - another list that shows what combinations of symbols and numbers make hypertext accents for languages other than English. I find these more cumbersome than the symbol+letter combinations in the HTML index listed above.
"Yahoo! Internet Life" Web page - an online version of the magazine with Web site reviews.
Walker's MLA Style Guide for Citations of Electronic Sources - created by Janice Walker, an English professor at the University of South Florida, has created an MLA-style guide for citations of electronic sources.
The ADV-HTML Archives - according to the Internet TOURBUS, this is a great resource for ADVANCED HTML information.
The Worldwide Classroom Library - it has names and addresses for several thousand schools, links to about a thousand schools, planning guides and quite a few teacher training programs as well.
Net Surf Central - a guide to the good, the bad, and the utterly useless sites on the internet. This is arranged by subject areas and contains reviews of different sites.
Internet Movie Database - ooooh, this is a dangerous place to hang out. There is more information about more nonvital entertainment items than the mind can fathom. I had to stop myself from wandering about at this link the first time I accessed it, because I had zapped away lots of time finding things out about movies. A scary place to visit when procrastinating!

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