Finding the Right Information on the CityU Web with AltaVista

Ricky Chan

As the number of Web pages in the CityU's central and departmental Web servers has grown rapidly, finding Web pages containing specific information becomes an arduous task. To ease up the process, we have installed an AltaVista Search Engine on the CityU's Web server, which is a fast and convenient tool for searching Web pages and documents. With this new Search Engine, you simply fill out a form and click on the Search button, then a number of links with the right information will be returned. The CityU's AltaVista Search Engine ranks results automatically based on a series of factors to ensure that the most relevant documents appear at the top of the result list.

Simple and Advanced Search

The CityU's AltaVista Search Engine provides two search methods: simple and advanced as shown in Figures 1 and 2 respectively.

Figure 1. Simple Search

In Simple Search, you can use a conversational style to enter queries. Entering several words separated by spaces indicates that you want to find documents containing any OR all of the words. Documents containing all of the words are listed first. For example, suppose you want to find information on housing, you could enter the series of words HRO housing handbook in the text box labelled "Search for:" and then click on the Search button. If a document contains all three words, that document will be ranked automatically at the top of your result list. Documents containing only some of the words would be next, and documents containing only one of the words would be ranked last. In this case, the search returns 172 documents that match your query. Apart from this, you can also use the + and - symbols as simple operators to require the presence or absence of words in a search. For example, if you change the search words to HRO+housing+handbook, that means all 3 words must appear in the document, the search returns only 5 documents. Moreover, you can confine your search to a particular department, for example, by changing the select bar "In:" from All departments and Offices to Human Resources Office and click on the Search button. The search will return the documents that fulfil your search criteria and belong to the Human Resources Office.

Figure 2. Advanced Search

The Advanced Search interface requires a more precise, logical syntax which, although more exacting, gives you better control over the results of your search. Although the two interfaces offer basically the same features, advanced search does offer some capabilities that are not available from the simple search. For instance, you can use the NEAR operator to find two words located within 10 words of each other. Furthermore, you can confine your search to documents for a specific period.

Unlike simple search, the CityU's AltaVista Search Engine returns the results of an advanced search in no particular order, unless you specify ranking rules. In most cases, it is helpful to filter the results of your search so that the most useful documents appear at the top of the list.

To rank results, enter words or phrases in the "Ranking:" box. You can use the words that are a part of your search, or you can enter new words as an additional way to refine your search. For example, type the word HRO in the "Search for:" text box, followed by the word housing in the "Ranking:" box and then click on the Search button.

More useful tips on using simple and advanced searches are available at the URL http://www.cityu.edu.hk:8003/cityu/tips.html .

How does the CityU's AltaVista Search Engine index your Web pages?

Normally, AltaVista Search Engine 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. You can use META tags in your Web page to supply additional keywords that influence how AltaVista Search Engine indexes your page.

Specify your own description to display as the result of a search. For example, suppose you have a Web page that describes a self-developed Perl/CGI software program that people are free to download, AltaVista Search Engine automatically indexes all the 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, e.g. freeware, software, free download. Use the META tag and specify name="Keywords" to add these words into your Web page to the index and increase the chance that users will find your page, for example:

<META name="keywords" content="freeware, software, free download">

Moreover, 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:

<META name="description" content="A free Perl/CGI for Internet Shop">

To learn more about these, please visit the URL http://www.cityu.edu.hk:8003/cityu/help_query.html and click on the link "Influencing how AltaVista Search Intranet indexes a Web page".

How to Access the CityU's AltaVista Search Engine?

Simply go to the University Home page (http://www.cityu.edu.hk/) and click the Search button to bring up the Web page of the CityU's AltaVista Search Engine. If you would like to know more on how to use the Search Engine, you may find the link Reference Guide useful on the top right corner of the Web page. For queries, please contact Mr. Ricky Chan at x7450.

Computing Services Centre City University of Hong Kong ccnetcom@cityu.edu.hk