gives web users access to a sophisticated concept-based
searching engine. But even though the search engine is advanced, users
can form queries without using a complicated query language. This page
will help you to form queries that will give you the best results.
Query Basics
A query is simply a description of an information need. Unlike Boolean
systems that search for just those documents containing all the
words in your query, Excite for Web Servers will search for documents that
are a best match for the words in your query. Excite for Web Servers will
also search for documents that are about the same concepts that your query
describes, so sometimes Excite for Web Servers will bring back articles
that don't mention any of the words in your original query.
What this means is that your query – the description of your
information need – can be as detailed as you like. Don't worry about
providing too many words; the more words, the better. Additional words in
your query will help Excite for Web Servers figure out what concepts
you're really interested in. On the other hand, Excite for Web Servers
will do a pretty good job of figuring out what documents are interesting
to you even if your query is vague.
For example, let's say you're searching a web site for documents about
customer support for the Widget2000 product you're using. A good starting
point would be :
customer support for the Widget2000
If you have a question about a particular feature of the
Widget2000, for example the Blurfl upgrade package, you might choose a
query like
customer support for the Blurfl upgrade package
of the Widget2000
Even if there are no documents that are actually about the Blurfl
upgrade, Excite for Web Servers will still show you documents about
Widget2000 customer support.
Advanced Query Tips
Here are some suggestions for getting the best results out of Excite for
Web Servers.
- Only use words that are relevant to your query
- If you're looking for documents about the Widget2000, don't enter a
query like
"Find me all
documents about the Widget2000".
Excite for Web Servers considers all the words in your query
to be part of your information need, so queries like the previous example
will find all documents about 'finding all documents about' the
Widget2000, which may not be exactly what you want.
- Specify multiple forms of the same phrases
- Excite for Web Servers distinguishes between hyphenated and un-hyphenated
words. So, sometimes it might be necessary to explicitly say that you
want both versions, for example : "
CDROM CD-ROM".
Excite for Web Servers will try to figure out that CDROM
and CD-ROM are the same, but it never hurts to explicitly
specify multiple forms.
- Common words are ignored
- Excite for Web Servers doesn't index common words like a, and or
the. Consequently, those words in your query will be
ignored. Excite for Web Servers also ignores numbers; however, it can
find strings that happen to contain a number, for example 3Com.
