WebCrawler is also omitted, for the sole reason that its index of two million pages is tiny compared to the other major sites, making it an unlikely resource for serious searchers. AltaVista provides Basic Search and Advanced Search features, and a Refine capability that suggests a list of additional keywords to include or exclude in your search query. Basic and Advanced are unfortunate labels because both offer powerful search functions, yet the division of functions between the two is not intuitively obvious. The help files are well-written and organized. The Basics help file has the most information, beginning with an annotated screen shot of the search form, clearly labeling all its parts.
Explanations progress from simple concepts to more complex operations.
There are many examples and they are clearly indicated in bold. Advanced Help, Refine, and Usenet help are organized in a similar fashion, with good definitions, examples, and appropriate screen shots. The Add a Page help file is clearly intended for Web masters, rather than searchers. Two brief sections explaining and illustrating HTML meta tags and the robots.txt exclusion standard are referenced as links rather than simply being included in the help file, departing from the format of the other help files. A new submenu of help options also appears, with links to Webmaster Help, Business Questions, and Contact Information.