[WEB4LIB] Re: metasearch engines

[Kevin S. Clarke]

Christopher Handy wrote:

> Having said this, I'm wondering if anyone can report on the "Sherlock"
> metasearcher that forms an integral part of the just-released Mac operating
> system (OS 8.5). I haven't had an opportunity to use it myself and am
> curious about how well it works and how effectively new search engine
> plug-ins can be integrated into the system, especially those designed by
> the user or a third-party developer.

I have the same reservations about metasearch engines as others on the list,
but I have found Apple's new Sherlock useful.  The plugins are very easy to
integrate into the system (all you do is download/unstuff and drop them into
an "Internet Search Sites" folder... once in the folder they are seamlessly
integrated and will appear in the Sherlock window).  There are quite a few 3rd
party plug-ins available (for a pretty comprehensive list, see
http://www.eiresources.com/sherlocksearch/index.html).  One thing I have
noticed in the few days I've been using it is that the 3rd party plug-ins are
constantly being updated.  When I search, I often get a message saying that a
certain plug-in has been updated.  Once I click the OK button, my copy is
updated too.  I guess this is due to the relative newness of the product.

Another interesting feature is the ability to create search sets (where you
can search all the medical search engines or all the big general ones,
AltaVista, HotBot, Yahoo, etc.)  For more info on this look at
http://www.macnn.com/contributions/os85sherlock.shtml  --  this is a 3rd party
feature, but I believe Apple also has some AppleScripts that they are
distributing on one of their web sites that allow you to do the same thing.

Most of my searches have been pretty simple so far so I am not sure how
Sherlock handles the different ways that the individual engines give weight to
search terms.  Overall, I think Sherlock is useful.  I get the found site,
relevance (if the individual search engine attempts to measure this), the
search engine used, and a brief summary (oh, and a small advertisement...
yuck).  I look forward to exploring some more with it.

For those interested in reading more about Sherlock plug-ins, look at:
http://www.apple.com/sherlock/plugindev.html or for a more general intro:
http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1141.html ...and for modifying the
number of hits by each plug-in:
http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n58163 ...and, lastly, Apple's
Sherlock home page with some Sherlock screen shots:
http://www.apple.com/sherlock/

Hope this has been of interest...  Kevin