Anything handy I can share ...
Web search tutorial
How to find those reference sources and images out there on the world wide web... Whenever I need to find something I mainly use Google and I have some tricks in my sleeve you perhaps didn't know yet. Let me share it with you through this 'tutorial'. It may make you find the needle in a hay stack in just three clicks. (Still, sometimes you'll have to work your way through dozens of pages; depends on the subject.)
Google and its options
We all know Google,
right? You enter a word like [hawker] and you'll get hundreds of thousands
results. Great!
You can refine your search by entering multiple words, like [hawker fury surviving]
when you want to find today's examples of the Hawker Fury.
Now you will notice you get some Hawker Sea Fury in your results; wrong
plane. You can avoid (or at least minimize) this by using Google
Advanced Search. Enter [hawker fury], without the word [sea].
Have a look at Advanced
Search Tips.
Yet, the best thing about Google is the Google
Image Search. This is really great. Not
just when it's images you want. I experienced it finds you websites
you never would have found otherwise; sometimes it finds you better
websites than word search. Image Search is what I use most. I guess
Image Search is 'more to the point' because words are also found at
less interesting or non-relevant pages.
Also notice at the top right of the results page you can select between Large - Medium - Small images
to get the big ones first.
And Image Search too has Advanced
Image Search.
Still, it's possible that plain word search will lead you to images Image Search won't show you, just like Image Search could lead you to web pages the word search won't list. It's not about a best method, it's about different methods and you may try them all, starting with the most convenient.
Tip: Holding 'Shift' down when clicking a link opens the page in a new window, so you don't loose your page with search results.
So far the options…
Now, how to make best use of them
Sometimes you don't need to wonder about this, but when you're really
challenged this makes all the difference. Basicly it comes down to "be
creative, be smart". Instead of searching for [hawker fury surviving]
you could also try [hawker fury show] because that's where they will
be flying. Adding the keyword [history] will probably get you records
and perhaps lead to some foundation. Etcetera, etcetera... Think of it
as a mind game.
Keep in mind: the search results depend on how everything out there, has been put on the web, by all kinds of people, of all languages. There's no artificial intelligence involved; a search is just a scan on titles, text and image file names. So if one approach isn't satisfying, try another one.
You can try different descriptions and synonyms. Think 'sideways'. You can also try spelling errors that could be made, or add possible spaces like [sopwith bat boat] instead of the correct Batboat. If the subject is foreign you can try translations. You could even try to imagine what text people might have put on the kind of page you're looking for, or how they may have named an image file. Whatever...
Keep your eye open for clues and leads. For example, if there's a photograph of a plane you're trying to locate, look for a name, registration, perhaps clues in the background. And the web pages you find could provide you with info to refine your search or inspire an alternative search.
Enter keywords and disconnect. With disconnect I mean [fiat cr32] without a space between cr and 32, will find you less results than [fiat cr 32]. Don't search for [morane-saulnier], search for [morane saulnier] without the minus.
Be aware that small images in search results might be thumbnails. Like this search result for the Fiat CR32 leads to this big illustration of color schemes which didn't show in the Large selection. With some luck you may have found it though via the Fokker V-1 image which wasn't asked for in this fiat cr 32 search result. Apparantly you have to check out the misfits too.
Desktop search
Now Google and other search engines don't cover the entire web. You
can also install a Desktop Search Utility like the free WebFerret which
submits your search query to multiple search engines.
A few more tips
Off
course you can add interesting pages to your favorites; you can also
save them to your hard disk if the info is important to you (web
pages can be withdrawn from the web). When you're connected to the internet
by dial-up connection, this may save you some money too. Choose "Save
As..." from the browser menu "File"; the .mht extension
under "Save as type" saves the page and its images as a single
file.
When you've found an interesting page and you would like to post the url (link) on the forum, but all you can do is link to the homepage because the website uses frames: you can right click the desired page, choose "Properties" and select/copy the direct url in there.
If you want to post the direct link to an image shown on a page, you can do the same: right click the image, choose "Properties" and select/copy the direct url in there.
Please note that search results can vary in due time; some links might not give you the intended example.