Microsoft has another searchengine in beta
Microsoft has a new searchengine in beta and its VERY pretty. Its called “Tafiti” which means “do research” in Swahili. Tafiti is an experimental search front-end from Microsoft, designed to help people use the Web for research projects that span multiple search queries and sessions by helping visualize, store, and share research results. Tafiti uses both Microsoft Silverlight and Live Search to explore the intersection of richer experiences on the Web and the increasing specialization of search. (Okay, so I swiped some verbiage from their FAQS page, but you get the idea.)
Here are a few pictures of Tafiti in action.
This is the default page, created in honor of the new Halo video game. Not sure how long that will be in place, so I opt to show you the original Tafiti page by clicking the link above. (See arrow?)
This is how the homepage usually looks. On the notepaper, I type in “inurl:resume C++”, then click the Go button.
Oooohh…. pretty! The results are in the center (1), my original search query to the left of the results (2), additional options for searching are available beneath that and they are: Web, Images, RSS, News and Books (3). You can also drag the search results you like into a folder that you can later email to yourself or add to your blog if you are on MSN Spaces (4).
Here is a close-up of my dragging a search result to a folder on the right. I decided to name the folder “C++ Resumes” which is why you see that title on the folder.
…and this is what it looks like when you have several resumes saved in your folder.
Clicking on that collection of saved search results brings up the following page. From here you have the option to add it to your blog (1) or email it to your self or someone else (2).
One of my favorite tricks with Tafiti is the ability to refine search results. For example, out of the search results I pulled with the string “intitle:resume C++”, I added “ATL” to the refine results box (see arrow) and now I am searching for the term ATL inside of the search results I pulled previously. (Me likee!)
And finally, the Tree, because I just HAVE toshow you the tree. See the tree icon in the screeshot below? Check out what happens when I click it. (Tee-hee)
You get your search results on a tree. I really like this because I can visually see my search results and those results that link to those results.
And just in case you think all that “beautifulness” is overwhelming, check out what happens when you mouse over a search result. A little preview box comes up! How convenient…
So if its not obvious at this point let me say, I really dig this! I dig it a lot because:
1. Its so pretty and functional.
2. I like that I can choose its look! (Remember how I chose the “traditional” view and not the Halo view?) I REALLY, REALLY hope that in the next version there are more templates (or “skins”) to choose from like popular tv shows, comics and/or the ability to upload my own design. That would be SWEET!
3. I REALLY like that I can search within search results. Thank you so much. (I think that function was a long time coming and something I can not do on Google or Yahoo at this time.)
The only thing I do not like about it is that I had to download Silverlight to make it work. Do not get me wrong, I am glad I did; but I have enough beta stuff downloaded that I have yet to play with so initially it felt like a chore. Please do not let that dissuade you from playing with this however. To its credit, it was a quick download of 30 seconds (give or take) and once I reloaded my browser I was good to go.
Check it out and let me know what you think!
-Jim
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[...] Kevin wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptMicrosoft has a new searchengine in beta and its VERY pretty. Its called “Tafiti” which means “do research” in Swahili. Tafiti is an experimental search front-end from Microsoft, designed to help people use the Web for research projects … [...]
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThis is the default page, created in honor of the new Halo video game. Not sure how long that will be in place, so I opt to show you the original Tafiti page by clicking the link above. (See arrow?) … [...]