The search engine used on this web site allows a visitor to search for all document pages that contain the word(s) that is/are of interest. The search function is obtained from the Main Menu. The main menu is available from all five of the Main Pages. The fifth option from the main menu allows the visitor to activate the search template page.
Visitors that are knowledgeable in the use of other Internet search languages will find this search engine to be a little different. Visitors familiar with more complex search languages/functionality should peruse this document to become familiar with this engine.
The search Template page is considered one of the five main pages on the web site.
The page that contains the template into which the visitor enters the word for which the search is to take place has information other than the actual search template. In keeping with the pattern used by all of the main pages on the web site, this page has a copy of the main menu at the top of the page. The fifth option, which represents this page is of a slate-grey color indicating that the visitor is on that page.
Following the main menu is the actual search template and a set of HELP pages (of which this is the English one). The actual search template looks like:
The visitor enters into the search template the word (or words) for which the search engine is to look. (NOTE: A maximum of 255 characters (e.g. letters or numbers) may be entered.) For example, if the visitor wanted the search engine to find all occurrences of the word "Diabetes", the resulting search template would appear as:
To execute the search, the visitor clicks on the "Start Search" option.
Return to Search Help Menu
Once the search has been executed, a results list following an abbreviated Search Template will be displayed. An example: if the search was for the word "diabetes" it would yield a results list:
Number of documents found: 7. Click on a document to view it, or submit another search.
| Document Title | Date | Size |
| Irving Oakley Thomas II | 05/08/00 | 8KB |
| Maria Louisa Ritter | 05/08/00 | 8KB |
| Philip George Giering,II | 05/08/00 | 11KB |
| Isaac Thomas Giering | 05/08/00 | 11KB |
| Forrest Augustus Giering | 05/08/00 | 12KB |
| Edgar Warren Giering & Daisy Irene Giering | 05/18/00 | 10KB |
| Richard Herbert (AKA Dick) Giering,I | 05/08/00 | 12KB |
| NOTE | ||
| The above is a sample and, even though it indicates that clicking on a document allows it to be viewed, the LINK is simulated. |
The column headed "Document Title" contains the title of the document/page that satisfies the search specification. Most of the document/pages that will be located will be worksheets; the title for worksheets is the name of the Principal person of the family. Searches for names (people) may also elicit results in either index pages and/or chart pages. Both index pages and chart pages will have an obvious title. There are other document/pages that might appear on the results list - for example, a search for the word "document" will show this page as a result - and their titles will also be obvious.
The column headed "Date" contains the date on which the document/page was last uploaded to the web site.
The column headed "Size" contains a number that indicates the size of the document/page in kilo-bytes (1024 characters).
There are some instances where recently updated documents have not yet been indexed. As a result, the results lists might not be completely valid until such indexing has taken place. Large amounts of activity on the ISP (Server) supporting this web site may preclude this re-indexing for a significant amount of time.
In order to access this HELP document, the visitor must use the back key to return to the original Search Template page. In the future, the results list will be augmented to the original Search Template page.
If the search term results in a list that is "too long", the list is truncated to 250 document/pages.
Return to Search Help Menu
It is noted that the results of a search where more than one word has been entered into the template are all document/pages that contain either (or both) of the specified words. For example, a search for "clearing house" will obtain a list of all document/pages that contain the word "clearing" plus all documents that contain the word "house". If the document/page contains both words, it will be listed only once.
Return to Search Help Menu
The ASTERISK (*) is the Universal character. It is used only at the end of a root word and asks that the engine generate results based on documents that contain any word whose root is as specified. For example: a search specification of "diabet*" will yield results containing "diabetes", "diabetic" and any other word whose first six characters are "diabet".
| WARNING | ||
| The universal character can not be used in the middle of a word. A search for H*fler (in hopes of obtaining HOFLER and HAFLER) would obtain all words starting with the letter "H" as the "FLER" portion of the search specification is ignored. |
The AND is the conjunct connector; the dictionary defines a Conjunct as "Acting in association; combined". By specifying words separated by AND the visitor indicates the results should contain documents the contain both (or all) of the words. There is no limit to the number of terms that may be combined thusly; only the limit of a maximum of 255 characters in the search template.
For example, a search specification of "dick and diabet*" will obtain only those document pages that contain BOTH words.
For information on the assumed meaning when the AND is combined with either OR or NOT, see the section on combinations below. Return to Search Help Menu
There is currently no provision for position related search specification. A phrase is a set of words that are positioned adjacent to and either preceding or follwing one another. There is no provision for adjacency of any kind.
To find a phrase, perform a search ANDing each word of the phrase and then, by manually examing the resulting documents, the visitor can determine which of the results contain the ANDed words as a phrase.
Return to Search Help Menu
The NOT operator may be used to define terms that are not to be found in any documents in the results list. The NOT operator is not cascaded; if there are multiple words that are to be negated, the visitor should use parenthesis to asure that the terms are all NOTed. A further restriction requires the negation specifications be at the end of the search specification.
For Example, the search specification "jones not diabet*" will find all document pages containing the word "jones" as long as the page also DOES NOT contain any form of the root word "diabet".
A second example: the specification of "jones not (diabetes or cardio*) will find all "jones" documents as long as they don't contain either the word "diabetes" or any form of the root "cardio".
Return to Search Help Menu
It is strongly suggested that the visitor make maximum use of parenthetical notations in ANY instance where the specification may be ambiguous. For example, the search specification of "jones and doctor or patient" can have either of two meanings. To remove the ambiguity, the proper search specifications should be either "jones and (doctor or patient)" or "(jones and doctor) or patient".
In the first instance the search is for jones as either a doctor or a patient and in the second instance the search is for jones as a doctor with any patient.
The use of parenthesis is also important in the use of the NOT operator as it is cascaded ONLY by the use of the parenthesis (see ablve). Return to Search Help Menu
This web site is international in nature. As a result many terms (words) contain diacritic characters - for example, many German versions of worksheets contain words having umlaut characters - for example "Käthe".
Most keyboards used in English speaking countries do not normally support the typing of these diacritic characters. For those visitors that use a keyboard that supports the diacritic characters, entering these terms into the search template poses no problem.
For visitors desiring to perform searches using these diacritic characters AND using keyboards that do not support them, the following is recommended.
There is a Freeware package available at the following URL:
http://allchars.polder.net
The author has been using this package with a great deal of success for some time. Download the package and include the documentation.
Return to Search Help Menu