Digital's AltaVista search engine - the Mach 5 of its class, able to return thousands of pages in mere seconds - will be adding interface and feature enhancements this weekend that give users more control over search queries.
Foremost among the features is a refining tool that groups search returns into like categories.
"If you type in 'orange,' and you're looking for Orange County, the Refine button brings up pages of categories that you can select from," said Chuck Malkiel, PR manager for AltaVista in Littleton, Massachusetts. "It categorizes results into logical groupings, so it knows all the pages that contain references to fruit, and those that have to do with the county."
Other features added to the site include multi-language searching, so that a German user can set the preferences to seek out only German-language pages. Users will also be able to customize other preferences, such as advanced or simple queries, and those preferences will appear on the page each time they return to the site. A natural-language query capability will also be added, paving the way for searches like "How old is Strom Thurmond?"
Malkiel said AltaVista's user base is primarily composed of "power users" who understand how to do structured and advanced searches. The new features, he noted, are designed to bring in more novice users.
Previews of the new tools are available now, and the fully implemented versions will be in effect on Monday.
