A very bright, Northern Light is shining!!
Written: Aug 18 '00 (Updated Aug 18 '00)
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| Full Review |
Northern Light is one of the less popular, but more better search engines. There are engines like Mamma that have the popularity, but they do not always fulfill the user's query. As for Northern Light, it's a totally different thing.
What do they offer?
They offer many different ways to search. First of all, there is the basic search engine. They Northern Light has a business search, news search, and many more. It's not like all the other engines where the user has to find the thing they are looking for in the basic search engine. All the more popular things that are searched are branched off to their own search engine. They offer the same reliability that Northern Light's basic search engine offers.
The search time is pretty fast. Under five seconds to be exact. The result are also very precise. You will probably find all the stuff that you need on the first page of results. There will be a very little number of dead links.
One thing that I wish they would add is an MP3, audio/video search. It won't be as big as Altavista, but it can boost the hits. If they add this and keep it along with all their other advanced searches, this search engine can get pretty big and popular.
Like many other engines, this one also supports the Boolean. This makes the search more precise and exact. Just enter some extra symbols or words, and you can get the thing you are looking for in a click. Some of the more popular examples would be:
AND, OR, NOT: This is very useful. You can search for two words such as Epinions and Reviews. You can search Epinions or Reviews and both of those words would be searched. If you enter Reviews not Epinions, then reviews will appear, but none from Epinions.com.
" ": If you enter anything inside quotations, the exact words will be searched. So if you enter Travel Reviews, documents with the exact words will be displayed.
* and %: This can be very useful. If you enter chem*, all the words that begin with chem will be displayed. If you enter psy*ist, all words that begin with psy and end with ist will be displayed. If you enter gene%logy, anything that begins with gene and ends with logy will appear separated by a letter instead of %. This is very useful.
These were just the more common ones. If you want more of them, go here:
http://northernlight.com/docs/search_help_optimize.html
The advanced searches
•Power Search-
The can narrow down your search by a great margin if used in conjunction with the Boolean commands. Enter the publication name, words in the URL, words in the title, and you can do your search. There are over 15 categories that you can pick your search to be under. You can limit documents to be personal page, job listing, or any of the other categories. If you want to search in another language, you can do that and you can also search for documents within a certain period of time.
•Business Search-
Whenever you do a business search, Northern Light searches through all of the market sources and investment reports that have all been written by experts. You can limit your search by industry, type of report, and even the date. I could search for Press Reports in the Computing and Internet section that have been written during March and April. I can even search in multiple categories and and types. You can type in the words, company name, and research firm. This is one of the best and most comprehensive business searches.
•Investext Search-
This is great for people who need anything that deals with money. Whether it's interest rates, or if you are looking for a brokerage, this is the search for you. There are over 25 categories that range from Agriculture, to Hospitality, and Real Estate. Enter the firm name or the stock name, and you will find it. There are even options that will limit the size and region of the document. Like the Business Search, you are also able to search by language and date.
•Stocks and News Search-
These are two different engines, but I have combined them in to one. There are many options for the stock quotes. First of all, you can search through a huge index of companies. Then, you can get many charts and graphs displaying how well or bad that company did today, this month, this year, or in 90 days. There is a table that displays all the major markets and how well they did today. This is a nice search.
The news search, on the other hand, is quite big. You can search in many different topics and read the top stories of the day, which are updated constantly. You can only search for topics within the last two weeks. For other topics, you have to go to the Power Search. There are many categories to choose from. Sports, Politics, Entertainment, Computing, and Business are just a few.
•Geo Search-
This is a very comprehensive search. If you would like to find out news headlines in your area or any particular area that interest you, you should use this. Just enter the name of the city of zip code, and you are ready to go. You can pick a radius that the search will scan. Like all the other searches, this one also has different categories. I have found this useful if you need a local story for a project or presentation.
All these can be accessed at NothernLight.com and are free of charge.
Do they offer anything else?
Yes! A nice feature that they have added is the ability to receive special news alerts. You can't just enter your email, but you have to go through a sign up process. It isn't that long and they don;t ask for a lot of information. Then, you can choose all the news you want to receive via email.
Something they do not offer is a filter that will get rid of explicit content that only is for adults. This takes away a lot from the site. Considering all the other features they have, you might think that they would offer this, too, but they don't. If they add this, I am sure their hits will go up by at least 10-20%.
Site Layout and Navigation
The layout is very simple. All of the searches they offer are located on the top of almost every page. You can access them by a click of a mouse. This layout is in tables, just like many other sites out there. Everything is really organized and easy to locate. The colors are very pleasing to the eyes. In case you were wondering, they are light yellow, white and blue.
The page loading time is pretty fast, too. There are not many other links and images other than the ones that are absolutely needed. The coding is pretty neat, too. Overall, this site's layout is very simple and easy to navigate.
Final Thought's
I would recommend this search to anyone who is looking for anything. The only person who should not visit this is a young child that is fairly new to the Internet. As you probably know, adult sites are very easy to access. Since this search has no filter, this makes it worse. Other than that, they are many great features that we can all make use of.
Tell all your friends about this. I am sure they will enjoy it. To visit this site, type in you address bar this address:
http://www.northernlight.com
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
sohailg
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Member: Sohail Ghanchi
Location: Houston, Texas
Reviews written: 113
Trusted by: 84 members
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