Unfortunately, a handful of weaknesses hurt this site s score. Search results may include a directory category and ways to refine searches, followed by reviewed and relevant sites. Another annoyance is that URLs aren t displayed, which makes judging result relevance quickly difficult. For the most part, LookSmart s results are on the mark, especially with multiword queries and travel-related searches. LookSmart s main weakness, however, is that, as with Lycos, there seems to be no way to exclude terms from a search.
Boolean operators don t work, and no advanced search option exists.
One way to work around this is to explore LookSmart s directory by topic. Of course, that eliminates the instant gratification most of us expect from the Web. See it now. FREE UMS Sign up for ZDNet's FREE integrated messaging service. Reviews ZDNet delivers more news and reviews covering the latest technology than ever before.