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 so as not to confuse us, they 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 Google-like default list, but their piéce de resistance, a graphical alternative to lists, is aimed fair and square at the 90% of PC users on earth who have Flash and don't like reading phone directories for fun.
Kartoo 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 your search. From a usability point of view, at this stage, it has to be said that Kartoo is already one huge step behind Google. But there is more to kartoo than spoon-feeding you with the most popular results!
In my Google experience, you take the first page of search results as gospel, and if you don't see the obvious answer, you Google again with a slightly different search term. That mindset plays into the myth that Google is perfect and if you don't immediately see a result you want, you need to go a different route to find the answer. Not true.
Google only has so much space on page 1 for results and paid results...Only the most committed Google users are happy to click through the results, page after page till they find something that answers their question.
If you use Kartoo, however, even if there is no immediate simple list of answers to your search, I found that the presentation is so powerful, you are drawn in to investigate the sites that have popped up on page one, two - and through to page 13,985...
How do you get a relevant and readable search result? Firstly, the bigger and more detailed the thumbnail, the more relevant the info it contains. That is all well and good, but we can't divine the contents.
Mouse over a site and all becomes clear very quickly, in a warm, cozy and effortless way. The traditional Google style text-based easy to read 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 in truth, from a pure usability aspect, it is harder work - you mouse over a folder and then shift your attention to the side bar.
On the sea of thumbnails you get tags floating around too. Mouse over a thumbnail and lines magically 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.
Kartoo is graphical, but it bridges the gap to text based lists via a list of "Topics" aka tag words in the sidebar.
A list by any other name, but Kartoo add panache to this list of keywords. When you mouse over a topic, eyes right, you get another visual link showing the sites dealing with that topic. Highly useful, and illustrates how the internet links together.
Bloggers - Kartoo illustrates perfectly where your site fits into the mix. When you blog, it is essential you link to relevant sites, however low their page rank. As long as you link to relevant posts, your content stays alive and the internet will flourish through strong relationships of words, tags and topics.
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, Kartoo can search by photos and videos, both sorted out by Yahoo. And Wikipedia will give you a wiki result too.
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 so as not to confuse us, they 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 Google-like default list, but their piéce de resistance, a graphical alternative to lists, is aimed fair and square at the 90% of PC users on earth who have Flash and don't like reading phone directories for fun.
Kartoo 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
In my Google experience, you take the first page of search results as gospel, and if you don't see the obvious answer, you Google again with a slightly different search term. That mindset plays into the myth that Google is perfect and if you don't immediately see a result you want, you need to go a different route to find the answer. Not true.
Google only has so much space on page 1 for results and paid results...Only the most committed Google users are happy to click through the results, page after page till they find something that answers their question.
If you use Kartoo, however, even if there is no immediate simple list of answers to your search, I found that the presentation is so powerful, you are drawn in to investigate the sites that have popped up on page one, two - and through to page 13,985...
Search results
How do you get a relevant and readable search result? Firstly, the bigger and more detailed the thumbnail, the more relevant the info it contains. That is all well and good, but we can't divine the contents.
Mouse over a site and all becomes clear very quickly, in a warm, cozy and effortless way. The traditional Google style text-based easy to read 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 in truth, from a pure usability aspect, it is harder work - you mouse over a folder and then shift your attention to the side bar.
Tags
On the sea of thumbnails you get tags floating around too. Mouse over a thumbnail and lines magically 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.
Kartoo illustrates the structure of the internet
Kartoo is graphical, but it bridges the gap to text based lists via a list of "Topics" aka tag words in the sidebar.
Bloggers - Kartoo illustrates perfectly where your site fits into the mix. When you blog, it is essential you link to relevant sites, however low their page rank. As long as you link to relevant posts, your content stays alive and the internet will flourish through strong relationships of words, tags and topics.
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, Kartoo can search by photos and videos, both sorted out by Yahoo. And Wikipedia will give you a wiki result too.
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.
If you have reviewed or blogged about Kartoo, please contact Ed.and I will incorporate a link to it.
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