A Google Cse About Usability And Accessibility Options

[sebastienbillard]

Hi all,

I used Google Custom Search Engine (CSE) to create a search engine specialized in indexing ressources about usabiliy, ergonomics and accessibility. There are now around 125 websites in the index : blogs, tutorials, official specs, research papers...

It is available here :
-http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=002295333799505622621%3Akboxzhmzep0

(I didn't made the link clickable as the redirection script mess the URL)

Let me know what you think and don't hesitate to signal any quality ressource that could be missing

This post has been edited by sebastienbillard: Oct 30 2006, 11:00 AM

[radiorental]

Best idea - ever (o;

One suggestion is to include wikipedia in the search, just for completeness

Does anyone know how to add this as a search engine option in FF?

This post has been edited by radiorental: Oct 30 2006, 11:27 AM

[bwelford]

Congratulations, Sebastien. I must admit when I heard of these custom search engines I was not impressed. However I tried yours out and found some results that might have been buried within the regular Google Search. So I'm now more favourable to the idea. As with anything the important thing is to establish credibility and hopefully some degree of uniqueness.

[bragadocchio]

Nice. Tried a couple of searches, and the results were very good.

One issue I have with the Google custom search is that it removes the serendipity of finding a resource that isn't known to the person constructing that search. While you can fill it with some tremendous resources, you may miss some excellent resources. But it's nice to be able to find what you can from known and trusted sources on a subject.

I've been trying out Eurekster's swicki custom search for patents and algorithms, and I like the way it works. It's here:

http://search-engine-patents-swicki.eurekster.com/

I've been meaning to spend some time comparing the two to see which I liked best. I may follow radiorental's suggestion to add the wikipedia to that.

[sebastienbillard]

One suggestion is to include wikipedia in the search, just for completeness

Yes, you are right and I was thinking about it

Concerning FF I don't know of any plugin but it will surely come

However I tried yours out and found some results that might have been buried within the regular Google Search

Yes, that's is the aim I research quite deeply and using advanced operators about pertinent ressources. So the signal to noise ratio is very high. And it reduce ambiguity : a research on usabilty can concern a device usability which has very little interest when your are looking for web usability...

it removes the serendipity of finding a resource that isn't known to the person constructing that search

Yes, sort of but the regular GG search is still available. And indexed ressources in CSE still allow serependity via links. Also, when I explore ressources to index, I do it "serependitycally"

Concerning swicki they are pretty good to. What I liked in Google CSE is that the number of websites to index is virtually unlimited (5000 URLs for now). I liked Yahoo Search Builder, but the number of sites to oindex was very low (20 I think). Since you read french you may be interested in reading this post.

[joedolson]

That's a really great search - I couldn't see a place where I could see the list of sites being searched - is that accessible any where?

[JohnMu]

I'll take a stab at the Firefox plugin (unless there's one out there already?). I like your collection!

John

PS do you have a favicon?

[bragadocchio]

Yes, sort of but the regular GG search is still available.

I noticed that. I think allowing a visitor to choose either was a good idea on Google's part.


Nice post comparing the different custom searches, Sebastien. I may have to try out a Google Custom Search to see which I like better.

[JohnMu]

I slapped together my first Firefox search plugin

http://mycroft.mozdev.org/download.html?name=ergonosearch

Let me know how it works for you (especially if I got something wrong ). Somehow I ended up as the author (I'm not quite sure if that is the right way around), I had to choose a single language, and I just snagged your favicon as the icon.

John

[radiorental]

"I slapped together my first Firefox search plugin"

thanks, one less mini project I'll never get around to doing (o;

appreciated, virtual beer on me

[kensplace]

If its collecting results from multiple sources, then it should state which source it found the result on.

It should also get permission from each source to ensure the owner is happy for their resources to be used in this manner.

[JohnMu]

Hi Ken

When you set up a custom search engine you're actually just using Google and giving it either some tips about "good sites" or giving it the complete list of sites to use. I don't think you would need to notify them of anything as you're just using a simple filter on Googles results (very simplified: you're adding a list of "site:" options to the queries). You can also add exclude parameters, add tagging, etc. It's pretty fun - you might want to give it a try.

John

[sebastienbillard]

I couldn't see a place where I could see the list of sites being searched - is that accessible any where?

For now, Google has no feature to display the list to users. Once they set up a way to export the list I will publish it I think.

I slapped together my first Firefox search plugin

That's truly great ! Though I tested it and it doesn't always display results of Ergonosearch, but general Google results instead ? (A search from ergonosearch homepage doesn't have the same behavior as I set it up to display only selected sources). Perhaps some bug ? Do you have the same problem ?

It should also get permission from each source to ensure the owner is happy for their resources to be used in this manner

Well it is only regular Google index, just filtered. If webmasters are ok to be indexed in Google, they should be ok to be indexed in Google CSE. I would like to publish the list, but for now it is not possible (apart copying and pasting 120 URLs)...

[JohnMu]

Which searches did not work for you? All the ones I tried (not very many ) seemed to go through the Ergonosearch (or at least it said so).

John

[sebastienbillard]

Well in fact it displays regular resultats, with the big Google logo near the form, not written "Ergonosearch". And it doesn't display either the "Ergonosearch" and "Web Search " options.

[radiorental]

the extension works fine for me. every so slightly different results format, but otherwise 100%

nice job both of you, defintely a tool I'll remember to use.

[sebastienbillard]

Could it be a localization-related bug ? or a Firefox related bug ? I use FF 1.5.0.7

[radiorental]

1.5.0.7 os x here. Not sure how this would be a localization issue if your search works ok as a url entry.

[sebastienbillard]

Strange... anyway it doesn't work for me, it is regular GG results with thedefault Adsense for Search look

[cre8pc]

For those who like Digg, you can digg this custom search engine here.