Kartoo
Filed in: Independents
In a grey world, you need an outfit like KartOO to shed some light on the gloom. Put on your sunglasses, this search engine is brilliant.
Google have taught us that content is king and present their search results in lists of fairly plain text - pure info, no fluff no intuition required.
Kartoo is a search engine that also generates a default list, but if you have Flash, and 90% of PCs do, KartOO create a graphical alternative to lists. Their search results drew me in like a bear to a honey pot, emotions running hot. So how does it work? Read the bumf.
At first glance, KartOO offers no readable search results. Instead you have a classy looking map of the sites relevant to the search. From usability point of view, it is already one step behind Google.
Although there is no immediate written answer to your search, I found that the presentation is so powerful, you are drawn in to investigate your search-relevant sites from page one on down to 13,985... This is distinctly different to the Google experience, where only the most committed are happy to click through page after page.
The bigger and more detailed the thumbnail, the more relevant the info it contains. But how do you get a readable search result? We can't divine everything. All becomes clear very quickly, and in a warm, cozy and effortless way.
Mouse over a site and the traditional text search result appears in the side bar. (I cant take a screenshot of it, but you get a similar presentation to SnapIt - ie thumbnail plus summary text.)
Essentially you get the same info as Google, but you have to say, from a pure usability aspect, it is harder worker mousing and then shifting your attention to the side bar.
On the sea of thumbnails you get tags floating around too. Mouse over a thumbnail and magically lines visually link the sites using those tags. A fabulous touch to add to the richness of the information from the search result - and this 3D overview is like nothing Google can offer.
Bridging the gap and focussing more on text than flashy graphics, KartOO gives you a list of "Topics" aka tag words in the sidebar.
But they add panache to this list of keywords too. When you mouse over a topic, eyes right, you get another visual link showing the sites dealing with that topic. Highly useful, if only to give you a look at how the internet links together and where your site fits into the mix.
Let it be a lesson, when you blog, it is essential you link to sites however low their page rank. As long as you link to relevant posts, the internet will flourish and relationships will flourish.
Google doesn't convey the inter-connectivity of the internet. Like kids who have a disconnect between a bottle of milk and a cow, sometimes pure user friendly Google text lists just doesn't do it for the average user.
Apart from "text-based" graphical results, you can search by photos and videos, both sorted out by Yahoo. And Wikipedia will give you a wiki result.
Not sure this is the final solution, maybe they need time to mash some code to better integrate this aspect?
A beautifully presented search engine, but more glitzy and slightly less useful than Google, in terms of raw data. From an educational and inquisitive point of view, though, KartOO is streets ahead of the rest and the most enjoyable way to search I have encountered so far.
Mr Daggle doesn't agree. He knows more than me about the history of search, so perhaps he is right when he says that KartOO is just another attempt to break the invincible DOS interface approach. Try it and see.
Content is King
Google have taught us that content is king and present their search results in lists of fairly plain text - pure info, no fluff no intuition required.
Kartoo is a search engine that also generates a default list, but if you have Flash, and 90% of PCs do, KartOO create a graphical alternative to lists. Their search results drew me in like a bear to a honey pot, emotions running hot. So how does it work? Read the bumf.
KartOO maps the search results
Although there is no immediate written answer to your search, I found that the presentation is so powerful, you are drawn in to investigate your search-relevant sites from page one on down to 13,985... This is distinctly different to the Google experience, where only the most committed are happy to click through page after page.
Search results
The bigger and more detailed the thumbnail, the more relevant the info it contains. But how do you get a readable search result? We can't divine everything. All becomes clear very quickly, and in a warm, cozy and effortless way.
Mouse over a site and the traditional text search result appears in the side bar. (I cant take a screenshot of it, but you get a similar presentation to SnapIt - ie thumbnail plus summary text.)
Essentially you get the same info as Google, but you have to say, from a pure usability aspect, it is harder worker mousing and then shifting your attention to the side bar.
Tags
On the sea of thumbnails you get tags floating around too. Mouse over a thumbnail and magically lines visually link the sites using those tags. A fabulous touch to add to the richness of the information from the search result - and this 3D overview is like nothing Google can offer.
Topics
Bridging the gap and focussing more on text than flashy graphics, KartOO gives you a list of "Topics" aka tag words in the sidebar.
Let it be a lesson, when you blog, it is essential you link to sites however low their page rank. As long as you link to relevant posts, the internet will flourish and relationships will flourish.
Google doesn't convey the inter-connectivity of the internet. Like kids who have a disconnect between a bottle of milk and a cow, sometimes pure user friendly Google text lists just doesn't do it for the average user.
Various search result categories
Apart from "text-based" graphical results, you can search by photos and videos, both sorted out by Yahoo. And Wikipedia will give you a wiki result.
Not sure this is the final solution, maybe they need time to mash some code to better integrate this aspect?
Conconclusion
A beautifully presented search engine, but more glitzy and slightly less useful than Google, in terms of raw data. From an educational and inquisitive point of view, though, KartOO is streets ahead of the rest and the most enjoyable way to search I have encountered so far.
Mr Daggle doesn't agree. He knows more than me about the history of search, so perhaps he is right when he says that KartOO is just another attempt to break the invincible DOS interface approach. Try it and see.
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