Flash with Floogle

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Here’s an alternate Google with no added functionality. Floogle is an experiment in programming, and it delivers Google search results in the Flash environment. Flash is a multimedia programming language usually used to display moving images and sound. In this case, it delivers static Google search results. The site does make fun beeping sounds, though, when the mouse cursor touches screen items.

Go to the Floogle page here:

www.flash-db.com/Google

Searches are launched and results delivered within the same Flash frame residing in the Web page. You need Flash 6 for this to work; the page tells you immediately if you don’t have Flash 6, and it downloads it for you if you approve. Downloading and installation are transparent and automatic; just wait a minute or so (depending on connection speed) until the search engine appears in the Web page. Figure 14-20 shows Floogle and its search results.

Figure 14-20: Floogle is fun, but not particularly important as an alternative to Google.

Simply enter a keyword string and click the Floogle Search! button. Note that pressing the Enter key to launch a search doesn’t work here; doing so merely clears the keyword box.

Search results look fairly Googlish, but without the Similar pages and Cached links. Oh, and without the entire top-page summary that Google provides. Floogle dishes up pure results and nothing but. Even the AdWords and sponsored links are missing. Click any result link to see the target page, opened in a new window. See results beyond the first ten by clicking a numbered button above the results pane — this is where the beeps are located.

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