As you may know, I've written Google Guide, a free online tutorial on
searching with Google, which you can find on the web at
www.googleguide.com.  Please review Google Guide, and let me know ways
in which I can improve its content, including but not limited to
search tips, clearer explanations, inaccuracies, typos, omissions,
better or additional exercises, and solutions to the exercises.

Nancy, we must stop meeting like this ... ;-)


I was very glad to help you with this edit.  The only way I know to do
a site review is from top to bottom.  Since I'd been meaning to take
one of these search tutorials, your question gave me that added push
to sit down and apply myself.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable
experience and I learned quite a bit -- even as a semi-experienced
researcher.

In this first section, I wanted to link-document a few of my previous
editing choices for you.   But, please, I'm not really a philodox so
whichever style preference you choose will be perfectly fine as long
as you use it consistently throughout.


>>>Currently, <- omit comma) you can translate pages written in 
English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish into another 
language from that set.

The comma is correct here.  It shows transition.  The trend is away
from commas with single introductory words, so it's a matter of style.
 I'm in the 'stumbler' comma camp but you can never go wrong with more
traditional punctuation.
http://www.zianet.com/borderstc/203/grammar.htm

"My rule of thumb is: If I stumble after an introductory word, phrase, 
or clause and have to re-read to make sure I understood the sentence, 
then a comma is probably required (or the sentence needs rewriting), 
but if I don't stumble, then the comma is probably optional, even if 
traditional usage says it is required.
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/magazine/writing/grammartrap.html

>>>Instead of going to FedEx('s), UPS('s), or the US Post Office( add 
's here) sites to find out where your package is located, now you can 
enter parcel tracking IDs directly into Google's search box. <-  I 
believe you need but a single possessive on the last item mentioned in 
a string, but I'll check on this further.

Rule:
Add an 's to each noun in individual possession, i.e.,  Donna's and 
Martha's houses are both brick.

Add 's to only the last noun in joint or group possession, i.e., 
Miguel and Lisa's house is on the island.

Source:
Handbook for Writers, 6th Ed., Troyka

Your 's usage is correct but if your reader is tripped up on a point
of punctuation or sentence flow, it's best to repair it.  In this
instance, you might omit the three 's occurrences and insert 'the' in
front of 'FedEx,' 'UPS,' and 'US Post Office.

Foreign words:  (faux pas)
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0001619.html

Titles in italics:
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0771333.html

Homepage:
http://www.netlingo.com/right.cfm?term=homepage
"The two-word version is more applicable when talking about the front 
page of a larger Web site (consisting of many pages) or when referring 
to the front page from a site map or page of navigational directions."

In your context, the two-word version 'home page' is definitely more 
appropriate.

Shortcut: (combined word in noun/adjectival form; two words when used 
as a verb)
http://www.netlingo.com/right.cfm?term=shortcut

Screenshot:
Screenshot was not available so I deferred to the overwhelming Google 
Smackdown results:

screenshot (2,080,000)
screen shot (737,000)

Incidental Link on Early WWW:
http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html

***********************

You've done a fabulous job on the Google Guide and it's an excellent 
tool for anyone searching for information on the Web.  It certainly held 
my interest throughout.

The only page that I truly struggled with was the Advanced Operators
page.  I wonder if you'd considered moving that page more toward the
end of the tutorial.   Potential fallout at that juncture, when there
are so many other tools and problem sets ahead, would be a shame.  As
a suggestion, I wonder about moving this page to Part III and renaming
it 'Special Searches' or 'Advanced Searches' as I see the average user
zoning right there.

Also, I wonder if you might include a question about locating your 
individual congressman's contact information.  At one time or another,
I bet everyone in the U.S. will have an occasion to correspond with
their elected officials and need this information.

That's really about all the critique I have for you.  If you need any
further help or clarification, I'd be glad to be of service.  I really
enjoyed working on your project, Nancy.

Best regards,
V

---

Request for Answer Clarification by nancyb-ga on 27 Jan 2004 10:45 PST

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. (Normally I try to be succinct, but
you deserve more than just one thank you.)

Nancy

---

Clarification of Answer by voila-ga on 01 Feb 2004 09:33 PST

Thanks so much, Nancy.  I'm glad you found my suggestions helpful. 
And you read my mind about giving some of the questions a worldwide
flavor.  I'm afraid many countries feel we're a bunch of Americentric
knuckleheads and don't think anything's relevant outside our own
borders, so good on ya with that.

The 'push' along to the next section for the novice searchers on the
advanced operators section is a good workaround warning rather than
moving a whole section.  I also thought moving it might disturb the
gestalt of the guide, but at the same time I didn't want people
becoming discouraged.

I will certainly take a look at the additions.  Have been immersed in
much mandatory overtime, so I haven't had little free time lately.  I
did invest quite a bit of time on your site review and appreciate your
generous tip.  It's just that I can imagine the number of folks who
will utilize this tool and I wanted to help make it as perfect as
possible.

As a personal anecdote, I must tell you about my own version of a
'Google Smackdown.'  I came rather late to the internet party (1998)
and the first place I traversed to was a work bulletin board to post a
question on something I couldn't locate offline.  Along with the
answer came back a rather terse 'it took me two seconds to find this
on Google.'  I was too embarrassed to ask the poster what this
'Google' search engine thing was.  Little did I know, some five years
later, I'd find myself doing contract work for them.

While the Google search instruction page is helpful, it's a rather
bare bones approach, and your guide fills in the gaps.  I can picture
sending people (like my anti-tech mom) directly to the Google Guide
for instruction.  By having this tutorial available, you've saved
folks lots of time trying to explain the search process.  I'm glad
your guide is available now and will recommend it to anyone new to the
internet.  I wish it had been available 5 years ago when I was a
newbie.

Good luck for continued success.  It was a pleasure working with you
on this project and I also hope we meet again.

Best wishes!
V

I had high expectations for what Google Answers would provide me and
you exceeded them.  You deserve much more than 5 star.  If I could, I
would give you at least triple that amount.  Thank you for a
wonderfully thorough answer.

If you care to look at Google Guide again, you will notice that I made
most of the improvements you suggested and I'm still considering
putting in a few more.
I liked your suggestion of including a question about locating your
congressman's contact information, but because many Google Guide users
don't live in the United States, I changed the question to locating
your representative's (e.g., senator or member of parliament).  I
appreciate your concern that the page on search operators (advanced
operators) might put some readers off, so at the top of
http://www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators.html I added
"Skip to Part II: Understanding Search Result unless you're an
experienced Google user or you want to know how to use Google's
advanced operators."  I'm considering moving the page to the end of
the tutorial, but at the moment I've left it at the end of Part I
because it's about searching.  I don't consider advanced operators
special tools (the focus of Part III).

I hope we meet again soon.

Nancy

Nancyb --

I just looked at the site again and noticed that you don't have this
tool (from the labs) listed.  I find it particularly helpful:
http://labs.google.com/glossary

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

Hi,

Good idea. 

Sorry, but I have problems reading your red/white color scheme: the
contrast is not very good. Hint: get a grayscale copy of your page and
improve for readability. Your readers will like it better.

Omnivorous,

> I just looked at the site again and noticed that you don't have this
> tool (from the labs) listed.  I find it particularly helpful:
> http://labs.google.com/glossary

You can find it described on the following pages

http://www.googleguide.com/page_15.html#glossary
http://www.googleguide.com/page_38.html#glossary

I also included links to both these pages under "Definitions" and
"Google Glossary" in

http://www.googleguide.com/page_2.html

Is there anything you would suggest that I do to make it more obvious
that Google Glossary is included in Google Guide?

iwb,

> Sorry, but I have problems reading your red/white color scheme: the
> contrast is not very good. Hint: get a grayscale copy of your page and
> improve for readability. Your readers will like it better.

Thanks for the feedback.  I'll change the color scheme shortly and I
would appreciate your letting me know if it works better for you.

Nancy

Hi Nancyb,

Great idea, great site. I and I'm sure many of my colleagues will be
regular visitors along with, hopefully, many others who can't fail to
benefit from the great info and links you've put up. I haven't had
time to thoroughly investigate all the parts of the page yet, though
I'm looking forward to it. However, for now I just have one small
comment about a very small error on your front page that you may want
to correct. It's this line: "What to do when can't find the answer you
want," which of course should read: "What to do when YOU can't find
the answer you want."  Good work!

Best wishes, 
Byrd-ga

Hi NancyB,

I haven't "examined" the guide in depth, but I think it's an excellent
tool! I especially like seeing some well known names in the guide!

Crabcakes-ga

Nancyb --

I'd expected to find the Google Glossary under the Special Tools page
(p. 25).  Though I'd understand why you wouldn't until it came out of
beta, it seems that Google leaves well-used products in beta for a
L-O-N-G time.

BTW, as you stabilize the pages, you might consider a friendlier
naming scheme -- perhaps by section.  Many of us use URLs to help in
navigation and p. 25 doesn't tell me much.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

Byrd, 

> However, for now I just have one small comment about a very small error 
> on your front page that you may want to correct. It's this line: 
> "What to do when can't find the answer you want," which of course 
> should read: "What to do when YOU can't find the answer you want."  

Thanks for the correction.  I just fixed it.

> "Great idea, great site. ... Good work!", Byrd-ga, Google Answers Researcher

May I have permission to include the above quote in the preface

http://www.googleguide.com/page_1.html

Crabcakes-ga,

> excellent tool! 

Thanks.  I learned a lot while developing it.  By the way, may I have
permission to quote you too?

> I especially like seeing some well known names in the guide!

I tried to pick people and things that would be of interest to users
around the world, not just those in the US.  Out of curiosity, what
are some of the names that you appreciated seeing?

Nancy

Omnivorous

> I'd expected to find the Google Glossary under the Special Tools page
> (p. 25).  Though I'd understand why you wouldn't until it came out of
> beta, it seems that Google leaves well-used products in beta for a
> L-O-N-G time.

I'll consider including a link to it from page 25 since there may be
other people like you looking for it on that page.

By the way, you can use the search box at the bottom of the page to
search within Google Guide.

> BTW, as you stabilize the pages, you might consider a friendlier
> naming scheme -- perhaps by section.  Many of us use URLs to help in
> navigation and p. 25 doesn't tell me much.

Thanks for the wonderful suggestion.  I'll change it shortly.  

Nancy

Nancy --

Consider doing "anthropological" research.  Have a group of people
with various interests and experience levels come in and follow a
script of actions that you set up.  Normally researchers will watch
the subject through a video camera or one-way mirror -- but you could
do it from within the room.  Watch what they have difficulty with and
solicit comments. . .

What you're seeking is pattern types that you can research further.  For example:
*  men tend to skip the instructions
*  womean respond to colors
*  experienced search experts expect the pages to be structured this way
*  kids expect visual clues or icons to provide quick references
*  10% of the browsers can't see colors

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

Hello NancyB,

This is a good thing you're doing and placing it in the Creative
Commons is an excellent idea.  Hopefully you'll get input from many
different folks who use Google in unusual ways none of us have even
dreamt.

Since you need input from a variety of specialty areas, maybe we could
keep your question open so everyone can contribute.  Once it slides
off into the 'answered' and archived pile, we tend to forget about it.

Many of my suggestions will probably be more of the picayune grammar
variety since I proofread IRL.  So far, I'm only on Page 2, since I
sandwich extra jobs in only when I'm 'fresh.'

A reminder also, many of these are opinions and style issues, so it's
your document -- you're the final arbiter.  Please take what you want.

Page 1

1.  Coming fresh to your site, I see the "What You'll Learn" section
in red.  The abbreviation HTDEwGoogle just *looks* like an error. 
Looking at the bottom of the page it's easy to figure it stands for
"How To Do Everything With Google."  Maybe you felt creepy telling
people you have something for sale by putting it up top, but those
letters without making the connection to their meaning causes
confusion and might *look* like a mistake.

2.  I'd also give equal weight to the words "will" and "this" in that
same section by capping them.

Page 2

1.  In your sentence under "Preface," you need to tweak the reflexive
pronoun "myself" to either "me" or "the author."   I'd also change
"among other things" by spelling them out, i.e., "how to submit
feedback, linking instructions, acknowlegments.  Again, your choice.
(  link on reflexive pronouns:  
http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/042902.htm  )

2.  Last sentence under the Creative Commons section, I would -86- the
hyphen used in "humanly-possible."  Here's the Chicago Manual of Style
rule link on hyphens (hope it works):

http://ucp.uchicago.edu:2001/search97cgi/s97_cgi?action=View&VdkVgwKey=%2E%2E%2F%2E%2E%2FWWW%2Dbooks%2Fmain%2FMisc%2FChicago%2Fcmosfaq%2Fcmosfaq%2EHyphensEnDashesEmDashes%2Ehtml&DocOffset=1&DocsFound=8&QueryZip=hyphens&Collection=C90&SearchUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fucp%2Euchicago%2Eedu%3A2001%2Fsearch97cgi%2Fs97%5Fcgi%3Faction%3DFILTERSEARCH%26QueryZip%3Dhyphens%26Filter%3Dcmosfaq%252Ehts%26ResultTemplate%
3DCMOSfaqresults%252Ehts%26QueryText%3Dhyphens%26Collection%3DC90%26ResultStart%3D1%26ResultCount%3D10&

That's all I've had time to proof but if these observations are
helpful to you, I'd be glad to finish the document as time permits.

Great job, Nancy et al.
V

p.s. LOVE Google Glossary!

Hello Voila,

> Since you need input from a variety of specialty areas, maybe we could
> keep your question open so everyone can contribute.  Once it slides
> off into the 'answered' and archived pile, we tend to forget about it.

Thanks for the suggestion.  I'll do that.

> Page 1

> 1.  Coming fresh to your site, I see the "What You'll Learn" section
> in red.  The abbreviation HTDEwGoogle just *looks* like an error. 
> Looking at the bottom of the page it's easy to figure it stands for
> "How To Do Everything With Google."  Maybe you felt creepy telling
> people you have something for sale by putting it up top, but those
> letters without making the connection to their meaning causes
> confusion and might *look* like a mistake.

I'm glad you bought this to my attention.  In case you haven't
noticed, I replaced the abbreviation with the full name of my book.

> 2.  I'd also give equal weight to the words "will" and "this" in that
> same section by capping them.

Thanks for mentioning this as well.  I also made the changes you suggested.

> Page 2
> 
> 1.  In your sentence under "Preface," you need to tweak the reflexive
> pronoun "myself" to either "me" or "the author."   I'd also change
> "among other things" by spelling them out, i.e., "how to submit
> feedback, linking instructions, acknowlegments.  Again, your choice.
> (  link on reflexive pronouns:  
> http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/042902.htm  )

Again, I made your suggested improvements.

> 2.  Last sentence under the Creative Commons section, I would -86- the
> hyphen used in "humanly-possible."  Here's the Chicago Manual of Style
> rule link on hyphens (hope it works):

I eliminated "humanly-possible" altogether.

> That's all I've had time to proof but if these observations are
> helpful to you, I'd be glad to finish the document as time permits.

Your feedback is wonderful.  Please continue.  I look forward to reading
more of your suggested improvements.  

Nancy

Glad to help, Nancy, and love the corrected copy.  I will be happy to
proceed.  Just make a promise not to look at any of my Google
'answers.'  They're riddled with typos and extremely odd word choices.

As editors we come across as very bossy, but we just want a document
presented in the best possible form.  Language is our *art* medium.

-------------

Page 1

I didn't notice this yesterday and perhaps something was wonkatized in
your edit, but your home page has a 'previous' button.

-------------

Page 4

Your opening sentence does not look justified.  Looks like the words
'table lists when' would fit on that first line, yes?  I know zippo
about designing web pages.

-------------

Page 6

Sentence:
To enter a query, type in descriptive words that are likely to appear
on pages of the sort you're seeking in Google's search box either on
Google's home page (shown above) or results page (shown in the next
screen shot) <- period here.****

-------------

Page 7
 
Sentence:
To view a page listed in your search results, click on the title of
the page, which appears just above ***excepts***[ excerpts ] that
match your query. These excerpts are known as snippets.

Sentence:
The search terms you enter and the order in which you enter them
[,]**delete comma** affect both the order and pages that appear in
your search results.

Sentence:
Suppose you want to know how old someone is, such as Nelson Mandela
(the former President of South Africa). Pages with "birthday" or "age"
might be more than a year old. Searching for pages that include
"Nelson Mandela" and "born" are likely to include either "Nelson
Mandela born" or "Nelson Mandela was born" followed by his birth
date.***edit to 'birthdate.***

Sentence:
Does your query have enough specific information for Google to
determine unambiguously [I would flip 'unambiguously' to precede
'determine' here.]  what you're seeking?

Sentence:
In the summer of 1997, an email message [got] ***There's controversy
among grammarians over dropping 'got' entirely from the vocabulary
with the 'you've got mail' fiaso.  I think I'd change this to
something like "an email was widely circulated" or something
similar.*** widespread circulation featuring the text of a
"commencement speech" purportedly given by Kurt Vonnegut at MIT.

-------------

Page 9

Sentence:
By using special characters and operators, such as +, -, ~, OR, and
quotation marks, you can fine tune your search query and increase the
accuracy of its results. ***On a previous page, you have the phrase
'fine tune' hyphenated.  The trend is away from hyphens when they are
not absolutely necessary but this is a style choice; I'd just be
consistent in their usage.***

Sentence:
The + operator is typically used in front of stop words that Google
would otherwise ignore or when you want Google only to return pages
that match you [your] search terms exactly. However, the + operator
can be used on any term.

Sentence:
Disable automatic stemming, i.e., searching for pages that match
variants of your search term(s), by preceding each term that you want
to be matched exactly with the + operator. For example, if you want to
see only pages mentioning only [repetitive use of 'only' in this
sentence] one favorite book rather than lists of favorite books,
precede the word "book" by a + sign.

_____________________

to be continued...

Just a side issue and that is one of punctuation *within* rather than
*without* quotation marks.  You have a uniqe problem in that you don't
want your reader to include the punctuation in their search criteria. 
However, in those instances where this is appropriate, I would do a
search and replace for [ ",  (or)   ". ] and edit these ad lib.  This
would probably only bother an  anal retentive editor.  ;-)

Voila,

I REALLY appreciate your feedback.  I'll be incorporating your
suggestions shortly.

Looking forward to your next batch,

Nancy

Voila,

I've incorporated most of your suggestion.  Below are my thoughts on
some of your feedback.

> Sentence:
> Suppose you want to know how old someone is, such as Nelson Mandela
> (the former President of South Africa). Pages with "birthday" or "age"
> might be more than a year old. Searching for pages that include
> "Nelson Mandela" and "born" are likely to include either "Nelson
> Mandela born" or "Nelson Mandela was born" followed by his birth
> date.***edit to 'birthdate.***

According to my online dictionary, birth date is spelled either with a
space or a hyphen.

> Sentence:
> Does your query have enough specific information for Google to
> determine unambiguously [I would flip 'unambiguously' to precede
> 'determine' here.]  what you're seeking?

I try not to split infinitives since there are some people who get
bothered by such practices.  How do you feel about split infinitives?

> to be continued...

Please do.

> Just a side issue and that is one of punctuation *within* rather than
> *without* quotation marks.  You have a unique problem in that you don't
> want your reader to include the punctuation in their search criteria. 
> However, in those instances where this is appropriate, I would do a
> search and replace for [ ",  (or)   ". ] and edit these ad lib.  This
> would probably only bother an  anal retentive editor.  ;-)

I gave a great deal of thought to this one and decided to not follow
standard practices so it would be clear to users what I suggest they
enter.  Since Google ignores punctuation, I'm reconsidering putting
punctuation inside quotes.

Nancy

Morning, Nancy

I'll be happy to finish this edit but it will have to be next weekend.
 I was in class all day Sunday and during the week I pull 12-hour
proofreading days.  Very hard on the eyeball units.


>According to my online dictionary, birth date is spelled either with
a space or a hyphen.

Correct.  However, since this was a Google-specific tutorial, I used
Google's spellcheck which gives a 'did you mean birthdate' when you
enter birth date or "birth date."  Google Smackdown (
http://www.onfocus.com/googlesmack/down.asp ) gives an edge to birth
date, however, the trend is toward compounding words.  Doesn't change
your meaning one iota, so it's a style issue -- whichever you prefer.

>I try not to split infinitives since there are some people who get
bothered by such practices.  How do you feel about split infinitives?
Yipers!  Haven't had my coffee yet to discuss such a vast topic like
this one.  ;-)

>I gave a great deal of thought to this one and decided to not follow
standard practices so it would be clear to users what I suggest they
enter.  Since Google ignores punctuation, I'm reconsidering putting
punctuation inside quotes.

Fine and dandy.

I do hope you're not in a rush for your edits and overview.  If you
are, you might consider closing this question and reposting it
specifically as a general site overview question.  Even if a question
is closed, information can still be added and this would be my
donation to the commons.  I just have to make any outside work fit my
crazy schedule.

Cheerio, and see you next weekend!
V

Good Morning, Voila

> I'll be happy to finish this edit but it will have to be next weekend.

Fine with me.  

> >According to my online dictionary, birth date is spelled either with
> a space or a hyphen.
> 
> Correct.  However, since this was a Google-specific tutorial, I used
> Google's spellcheck which gives a 'did you mean birthdate' when you
> enter birth date or "birth date."  Google Smackdown (
> http://www.onfocus.com/googlesmack/down.asp ) gives an edge to birth
> date, however, the trend is toward compounding words.  Doesn't change
> your meaning one iota, so it's a style issue -- whichever you prefer.

Thanks for the explanation, which has gotten me to consider mentioning
googlesmack in Google Guide.

> I do hope you're not in a rush for your edits and overview.  

No, I'm not.  

> Cheerio, and see you next weekend!

Great,

Nancy

Hello again, Nancy!

I hope I've kept these pages in order.  Some are repeat corrections
and some are preference issues.   If you'd like to check out some of
the style suggestions this week, I can check on some of the rules for
grammar corrections I've given you.  Also, I'll continue offering
suggestions but my brain is maxed out this weekend.


Crafting Your Query

1.  If you don't like the synonyms that Google suggests when you use
the ~ operator, specify your own synonyms with the OR operator, which
I now describe. <- 'will now describe' or 'described below.

2.  The OR operator, {which you may represent using} <- I think you
could pare this down to 'represented by' | (vertical bar), applies to
the search terms immediately adjacent to it. The first example will
find pages that include either "Tahiti" or "Hawaii" or both terms, but
not pages that contain neither "Tahiti" nor "Hawaii".

3.  Note: If you write OR with a lower case "o" or a lower case "r,"
Google interprets the word as a search term instead of
(as) <- omit 'as.' an operator.  Combine 'lowercase.'

4.  Google considers terms with accents different from those without.
For example, Google interprets "côte" and "cote" as different terms
and indexes them separately.  (So be sure of getting all pages that
you hope to in your query)  <- consider 'To ensure that all relevant
pages are retrieved, include all possible spellings separated by OR.'

5.  Use a *, (my mind says 'asterisk' when I see that symbol, so I
think I'd use "an" but that's a quirky judgment call.  I'd have to
chase down that editing conundrum.)  known as a wildcard, to match any
word in a phrase (enclosed in quotes).

6.  What prompted Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, to write The Cat in
the Hat?   <- I would italicize "The Cat in the Hat" to set it off as
a book title.

7.  Which of the following phrases that match the query [ "Google * my
life" ]. <- I'd change 'that matches' to 'matches' and add a question
mark ending for clarity?

NEXT

1.  Filling in the top portion of the Advanced Search form is an easy
way to write restricted queries without having to use the " ," +, -,
OR notation (is)  <- omit "is." discussed in the previous section
Crafting Your Query.

2.  Let's look at some examples. If you click on the (screen shots) 
<- compound "screenshots" is the preferred noun form.  might do a full
doc "search and replace" for instances of this if you agree on the
spelling.) in this section, you'll be taken to the results of running
the corresponding search.

3.  You can restrict your search to other file formats by using the
filetype: search operator, which I (since this is on the next page,
I'd add a "will' to make it future tense) discuss in the Search
Operator section on the next page.

4.  What are the top 10 "Venture-Capital Firms" (I'd omit the hyphen
and lowercase these generic terms) active in Asia that invest in
computer technology?

NEXT

1.  If you start your query with allinanchor:, Google restricts
results to pages containing all query terms you specify in the anchor
text on links to the page. For example, [ allinanchor: best meseums
sydney ]  <-museums

2.  You can also find similar pages from the "Similar Pages" link on
Google's main results page, and from the similar selector in the
Page-Specific Search area of the Advanced Search page. If you expect
to search frequently for similar pages, consider installing a
GoogleScout browser button, (a "how to" clickable link reminder would
be useful here, I think.) which scouts for similar pages.

3.  The following table lists the search operators grouped by type. I
include search operators that Google hasn't documented, (you might
consider reframing this to "Included are search operators not yet
documented by Google" or "Not all of the search operators listed below
are documented by Google (or  "are Google documented") are e.g.,
allinanchor:, allintext:, author:, ext:, group:, id:, insubject:,
intext:, intitle:, location:, phonebook:, source:, and store:. Be
forewarned that Google may change how undocumented operators work or
eliminate them completely.

NEXT

Google strives to make it easy to find whatever you're seeking,
whether it's a web page, a news article, a definition, something to
buy,or  <- space after comma)  text in a book.

NEXT

Googlebot tends to encounter little spam because most web authors link
only to what they believe are high-quality pages. (omit hyphen?)

NEXT

1.  These snippets, which appear in a black font, may provide you
with: (I'd insert a hard return after the colon for aesthetics.)
The information you are seeking 
What you might find on the linked page 
Ideas of terms to use in your subsequent searches 

2.  Limiting the number of results from a given site to two ensures
that pages from one site don't ('won't' or 'will not' I think would be
better choices here -- tomayto/tomato -- but I think you have a
supposition/future tense situation here.) dominate your search results
and that Google provides pages from a variety of sites.

3.  I include another screen shot (I'd amend this to something more
concrete like "Here is another screenshot") of the results page in
case the one at the top of this page scrolled off your screen.

NEXT
N/A

NEXT

1.  Find the history of the word chivalry. <- 'chivalry' in quotes.)
From which language is it borrowed and from what word?

2.  What does zeitgeist mean? <- zeitgeist in quotes (or italics).

3.  What (is) <- omit does the abbreviation IRL commonly stand for? 

NEXT

1.  If Google returns a link to a page that appears to have little to
do with your query  <-  insert comma as these are independent clauses)
or if you can't find the information you're seeking on the current
version of the page, take a look at the cached version.

2.  The "Cached" link will be omitted for sites whose owners have
requested Google remove the cached version or not cache their content,
as well as any sites Google hasn't indexed,  <- period instead of
comma.

3.  If the original page contains more than 101 kilobytes of text, the
cached version of the page will consist(s)  <-omit) of the first 101
kbytes.

4.  These problems give you practice with accessing Google's cached
version of a page and with finding similar pages. <- I think you could
delete 'with' repeated in this sentence and still maintain clarity.

5.  After Nelson Blachman received reprints of a paper he wrote for
the June 2003 issue of The Mathematical Scientist, he wanted to
discover what other sorts of papers appear in the same issue of this
semiannual publication. Find a table of contents for The Mathematical
Scientist for Nelson. <- italicize "The Mathematical Scientist" here.

6.  Google automatically selected these sites by considering many
factors including the popularity of the pages containing links to
Google Guide, the positions, sizes, and proximities of other links to
the Google Guide link, and which links in addition to Google Guide a
user clicks. <-  this sentence is a bit fuzzy to me.  I think I'd
recast the ending to read 'and which additional links are clicked by a
user.'  I believe the Google Guide link relationship is implied and
may sound repetitious.

NEXT

1.  Editorial descriptions tend to be brief (no more than 25-30
words), well-written, objective, and free of sales pitches,
extravagant claims, and commercial propaganda  <- period.

2.  See the Directory section in Part III for more detail <- might
consider adding an 's' to "detail.")  about what the Directory
contains and how it works.

NEXT (news)

N/A

NEXT (Froogle)

N/A

NEXT

Find a document with tips on job interviewing and salary negotiation
that is in PDF/Adobe Acrobat format. What differences in the
appearance of the document result from viewing it in its native
format, Adobe Acrobat as compared with viewing it as HTML? <- you
could probably pare this down to "Adobe Acrobat versus (vs. or v.?)
HTML."

NEXT

1.  Currently, <- omit comma) you can translate pages written in
English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish into another
language from that set.

2.  Find out about public swimming pools that you can use when
visiting Naples, Italy. Hint: Find the Italian words for "public
swimming pool" <- did you want to add an 's' to "pools"?  and then
search for them on pages in Italy.

3.  Find the first chapter of "Le Petit Prince" online and have Google
translate it into English. Compare this translation with the first
chapter of "The Little Prince" translated by Katherine Woods, which
you can find online if you don't have a handy copy of this lovely
book. ** For clarity, I would consistently use italics for book titles
since quotes are Google search parameters.

NEXT

1.  Note: If you don't find your preferred language in the list, you
can volunteer to translate Google's help information and search
interface into that language via the Google In Your Language program,
which you can find out about by visiting
services.google.com/tc/Welcome.html. <- would you want this link
clickable?

2.  Google's philosophy is to filter no more than necessary, i.e., as
little as possible. Google considered adding the capability to filter
other controversial content besides pornography, e.g., hate speech,
anarchy, bomb making, etc. <- bomb making was hyphenated on a previous
page so I would hyphenate it here also.)

3.  What state parks does California have? <- I think this question
might be better rephrased by asking the names or attractions for
California state parks.

NEXT

If you're a news junkie, check out Topix.net, which you can find at
http://www.topix.net/ and Columbia Newsblaster, which you can find at
http://newsblaster.cs.columbia.edu/. Like Google News, Topix.net and
Newsblaster are systems that automatically track(s) the day's news.

NEXT

1.  Note that unlike other shopping services, Froogle and Catalogs
don't actually sell things. Instead, use them to browse and/or search
pages of on-line (online) and print catalogs.

2.  Limiting the number of results from a given site to just one
ensures products from a single vendor don't (won't?  There's a subtle
difference here, but I get stuck on this sentence.) dominate your
search results and that Froogle provides pages from a variety of
sites.

3.  Tired of putting on sun screen (sunscreen)? Find sun-protective
clothing on Froogle and in Google Catalogs.

4.  Ads must not distract (no pop-up and flashy ads). <- you might
consider changing this to "or flashy ads."

5.  At most two sponsored links appear above Google's search results.
(I would add a comma after 'most' since it's a qualifier contracted
introductory phrase 'at the maximum.'

6.  So Google is unlikely to make another faux pas on par with this
one. (foreign words are usually italicized within text.)

NEXT

Express herself <- did you want to keep this author-specific or go
with a more generic 'themselves'?
Exchange ideas 
Copy, falsify, or omit information intentionally or accidentally 


NEXT

The results of these short cuts <- combined word 'shortcuts') appear
to the right of a specialized icon and above your search results.

NEXT

1.  Access Google from your Windows desktop toolbar. The following
table lists Deskbar's key features. (For clarity, I don't think need a
possessive for 'Deskbar.'  if you prefer, you might consider adding
'the' before 'Deskbar's'.)

2.  Keyboard Shortcuts  Access Google News by pressing the CTRL and
the N keys simultaneously (CTRL+N), Google Images (CTRL+I), Froogle
(CTRL+F), Web Search (CTRL+W), Groups (CTRL+U), I'm feeling lucky
(CTRL+L), Definitions (CTRL+D), Stock Quotes (CTRL+Q), and Thesaurus
(CTRL+T).  <- I would capitalize every word in the "I'm Feeling Lucky"
section.

3.  Below are links to more information on Google's 2.0 Toolbar: 

An overview and installation - toolbar.google.com 
A description of the features - toolbar.google.com/button_help.html 
Answers to frequently asked questions - toolbar.google.com/faq.html 

**I wonder if you might highlight one of the FAQs.  How to clear the
history in the toolbar seems to pop up every week on Google Answers.**

4.  If you use Mozilla or Netscape, try Googlebar,
googlebar.mozdev.org, which provides all of the basic search
functionality of Google's Toolbar. Googlebar works on recent versions
of Mozilla and Netscape, but may not work on older ones. <-  hard
return here for aesthetics.)
Browser Buttons - www.google.com/options/buttons.html 
Access Google's search technology by adding buttons to your browser's toolbar. 

5.  Use your mouse to highlight this phrase: Stanford University. 
Click the "Google Search" button and Google searches the web for the
highlighted phrase.
OR <- I wonder about putting the "OR" on a separate line?
Simply click the button and enter your search terms in the pop-up
Google search box.

NEXT

1.  Compute expressions involving different units. By default, units
are converted to and results expressed in meter-kilogram-second (mks)
units. Many units have both long and short names. Use which ever name
you prefer. <- whichever.
 
2.  Warning: When your query includes "Calories" with a capital "C,"
Google returns kilocalories called "calories" by nutritionists. The
term "calories" with a lower-case (lowercase) "c" doesn't refer to
kilocalories. <- you have kilo-calories above so I'd make whichever
you prefer consistent.)

NEXT

What is the address of the Empire State Building in New York City in
the state of New York (the two letter **two-letter** state code is
NY)?

NEXT

Get a map showing the most crooked section of Lombard Street in San
Francisco, which is between 1000 and 1100 Lombard Street. (I would
force return to keep "San" and "Francisco" on the same line for
proximity.  I know there's a certain keystroke in certain Word
programs that will keep names/addresses together but I don't what ...
alt + something??

NEXT

Note: Entering ticker symbols in the search box and then clicking on
"I'm Feeling Lucky" will not take you to that symbol(s) financial
information page. Instead <- comma here; it's a qualifier.)  Google
displays the first search results, whose link appears just below the
box enclosing the stock information link.

NEXT

1.  If you want a dictionary definition, learn about a short cut
(**shortcut**) in the Dictionary Definitions section in Part II.

2.  What (is) does the abbreviation IRL commonly stand for? <- it
seems that a few of these questions are repeated.  you might consider
formulating new questions in every exercise.

NEXT

1.  Google provides a shortcut for finding out about delays and
weather conditions at an airport. Just enter the airport's three
letter (**three-letter**) code followed by the word "airport" into
Google's search box.

2.  Now let's find request travel conditions at Honolulu International
Airport. <-omit 'find?'

NEXT

Instead of going to FedEx('s), UPS('s), or the US Post Office( add 's
here) sites to find out where your package is located, now you can
enter parcel tracking IDs directly into Google's search box. <-  I
believe you need but a single possessive on the last item mentioned in
a string, but I'll check on this further.

NEXT

1.  Domain  a specific site or domain (for a description of site and
domain names, see Anatomy of a Web Address in the Sharpen Your Query
section in Part I)   anything to go in that third box?  can the lines
be sharpened in that area?

2.  Obtain a map of the London underground. <- I would capitalize 'underground.'

NEXT

Note: Particularly in the latter part of the 1980s, there are some
significant gaps in the archive. As traffic expanded, volunteers who
had been saving Usenet traffic at their own expense were overwhelmed,
and stopped archiving some groups. While the Google Groups archive is
the most complete Usenet Archive known to exist, it is not a complete
archive prior to the 1990s.

(I wonder if you might insert a Usenet timeline link or say what
happened in the 1990s to make the archive static ... DejaNews.)
http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:81Nehm-mdmYJ:www.itas.fzk.de/e-society/preprints/mediaculture/Hauben.pdf+dejanews+archived&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
(thanks for the link, juggler-ga!)

NEXT
N/A

NEXT

On the Google Answers, I wonder if you might mention that some (but
not all) answers become indexed pages on Google.

NEXT

Next I describe a few of Google Labs' prototype search tools
including: (just as a 'hey, you're almost done' placemarker, you might
consider "The final lesson in this tutorial describes a few ..."

NEXT

N/A

NEXT

1.  Click on "I'm feeling lucky" (I'm Feeling Lucky) on Google's home
page (homepage) to go directly to the first result.

2.  However, the + operator can be used on any term any terms.<- could
you add (s) after 'term' and delete 'any terms'?

NEXT

1.  Only of interest if you want to write a computer program yourself
or use some third-party products <- period.

2.  Search for [ Hearst Castle recommended tour ] and you'll learn
about an incredible mansion, which is now a historical monument. It is
located in San Simeon nearly half way from Santa Barbara to San Jose
("San" and "Jose" should appear on the same line.) and is worthwhile
visiting when you're in the area.

3.  Search for [ Google doodle ] and you'll find a page with the
special Google home-page (homepage) logos used to commemorate holidays
and special events <- period.

4.  What are the top 10 "Venture-Capital Firms" (omit hyphen and
lowercase those three words) active in Asia that invest in computer
technology?

5.  Possible search strategy:
[ intitle:FAQ OR intitle:help site:google.com -site:answers.google.com
-site:directory.google.com ] <- hard return here.
Find pages whose titles include surfing that are not about surfing the
World Wide Web.

6.  What (is) does the abbreviation IRL commonly stand for? 

7.  After Nelson Blachman received reprints of a paper he wrote for
the June 2003 issue of The Mathematical Scientist, he wanted to
discover what other sorts of papers appear in the same issue of this
semiannual publication. Find a table of contents for The Mathematical
Scientist for Nelson. <- italicize book title.

8.  Find a document with tips on job interviewing and salary
negotiation that is in PDF/Adobe Acrobat format. What differences in
the appearance of the document result from viewing it in its native
format, Adobe Acrobat as compared with viewing it as HTML? (see above
edit suggestion ... Adobe Acrobat v. HTML.)
 

I would probably do a search function to ensure consistency on these words:
homepage, screenshot, shortcuts, lowercase, fine-tune/fine tune, search-results

p.s.  On the Calculations page:

You can force the calculator to try to evaluate an expression by
putting an equals sign (=) after it. This works only if the expression
is mathematically resolvable. For example, 1-800-555-1234= will return
a result, but 1/0= will not.  (I checked with our resident expert
(mathtalk-ga) about the phrase 'mathematically resolvable.'  We both
prefer 'arithemetically computable' instead.  Your call.

Will finish up next either during the week or next weekend,
V

Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback and suggestions.

Nancy

My apologies if I've introduced the first typo into the discussion,
but that should have been "arithmetically computable".

--mathtalk-ga

Entirely my error, Matty.  As you can see, I became proofing-impaired
toward the end of that comment and posted in a rush.

Happy to help, Nancy.  I just wanted to digest what I'd read in the
Google Guide and offer suggestions other those of the editing kind. 
Looks like it might be Sunday before I can get my thoughts together
though.  Hope that's good for you.

p.s.  I love it that you know Kate Bush!

Rubberband Girl,
V

> I just wanted to digest what I'd read in the
> Google Guide and offer suggestions other those of the editing kind. 
> Looks like it might be Sunday before I can get my thoughts together
> though.  Hope that's good for you.

Yes, you're timing is great.  I should be able to put in my latest
round of updates and improvements by then.

Nancy