This article is from the December 2003 issue of Update.
Phil Bradley trawls the internet to find the answers to this month's readers' queries.
This month I thought that I’d use questions that were asked of me at the recent CILIP Members’ Day in my internet surgery. It was an excellent event and, if you missed it, I hope there’ll be another next year!
Is there any way of seeing who links to my site?
Yes, and it’s fairly simple. If you go to Google and do a search for link:<url> you’ll see how many sites Google thinks are linking to you. So, to see who links to CILIP, the search is link:www.cilip.org.uk and this will result in 1,900 hits. Google isn’t, however, very good at doing this particular search, since this includes links that CILIP has to itself, and it also only lists those websites that have a high enough page rank — that is to say, Google only lists links from sites that it thinks are important. Consequently, it’s not a very reliable method.
A better approach is to use AllTheWeb (www.alltheweb.com). The same search with the same syntax gives us a result of more than 7,000 links — a substantially different figure! A more accurate result can be obtained by searching using AltaVista and excluding results from the site that you’re interested in with the search syntax link:www.cilip.org.uk -host:www.cilip.org.uk and this gives a smaller, but probably more accurate and focused, figure of 1,559. However, as with most things search engines do, I don’t think any of them are particularly reliable, so work with the figure that you like the most!
Where can I get a cheap copy of Dreamweaver?
Dreamweaver (a web authoring tool) is an excellent product, but it is a little on the pricey side. Luckily there are various ways you can try and get this, or indeed any other product more cheaply. A search on Google for ‘compare prices’ lists various sites that will do exactly that for you, and I took a quick look at Kelkoo (www.kelkoo.co.uk/) which I’ve not used myself, though I’ve heard people talk favourably about it. Another option is to take a look at Amazon and see if the product/book/video/dvd/software/electronic item is available there, and if it is, it’s a virtual certainty that it’ll be cheaper than in the high street. Finally it might be worth just checking on eBay (www.ebay.co.uk) to see if anyone is selling the item you’re interested in cheaply.
What are the advantages of using ADSL?
ADSL (or ‘broadband’) will give you much faster access to the internet, both in receiving data and sending it. Because ADSL is always on, you don’t need to spend time dialling into your service provider, so it’s very convenient if you just want to check a fact quickly, for example. It’s a very good way to communicate if you like using something like Windows Messenger — the increased speed means that sound and video communications are better than with dial-up. If you like playing multi-user games, it’s an absolute necessity!
However, its greatest advantage is just that it’s fast, and makes the whole experience of using the internet so much better. It’s also not that expensive either, and I’ve seen prices of less than £20 a month, which brings it within the reach of most of us. You can also use your telephone at the same time, just to add to the convenience (and to answer another question I was asked).
Site of the month
My site of the month is Word Wizard (www.wordwizard.com/). If you need to discover the origins of a word, research a quotation, an insult or check a neologism, this is the site to look at. It’s a lively and very useful addition to any information professional’s list of favourites.
I’d like to finish this column with my best wishes for Xmas and the New Year!
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Phil Bradley is an internet consultant, trainer, web designer and author. Visit www.philb.com for free information on internet introductions, search engine articles, web design tips and a host of other free information. Recently published: Getting and Staying Noticed on the Web. New: visit Phil's Weblog (www.philb.com/blog/blogger.html)! If you have any questions about the internet send an email to philb@philb.com with the subject header 'column query'.