Searching the Internet with Sherlock

You can think of Sherlock as a specialized Web browser that is optimized for searching the Internet for particular kinds of useful information, such as Yellow Pages listings, tracking the latest stock prices, movie locations and show times, and eBay auction activity. To simplify the search, this information is organized into channels, and each channel displays the found information in a more helpful way than a HTML browser could.

Due to its immense size, searching the Internet can usually be a real chore. Online search engines and directories abound — AltaVista, Ask Jeeves, Excite, Google, HotBot, LookSmart, Lycos, and Yahoo! are just a few — but you often have to search several of them to find what you want. With Sherlock, you can conduct a search utilizing many of these search engines at once, and Sherlock displays the combined results in its window. You can see a brief summary of any found site in the Sherlock window, and with one or two clicks in Sherlock, you can have your Web browser go to a found site.

Sherlock gains access to each Web site through a plug-in file created by Apple, other companies, or individuals. These plug-ins make it possible for Sherlock to search not only Web search engines, such as those mentioned in the previous paragraph, but searchable Web sites including Amazon, eBay, Apple, and other e-commerce sites. News sites and Web magazines also supply Sherlock plug-ins that enable you to search their sites with Sherlock.

Each plug-in appears as a Sherlock channel. Sherlock initially has several Internet channels in its toolbar, with each channel containing a different category of search sites. Besides the basic Internet channel for search engines and directories, by default Sherlock has channels for picture searches, stocks, movies, Yellow Pages, eBay, flights, dictionary, translation, and the AppleCare site. You can reorganize and add your own channels.

Note

To see and use any of Sherlock’s Internet channels, you must be connected to the Internet. If you didn’t set up your computer for an Internet connection during the initial Mac OS X setup procedure, see Chapter 18 to find out how to set up a connection now. If your computer uses a modem to connect to the Internet, you should make sure that your computer is set to dial up and make a connection automatically or that a connection is already made before you start an Internet search in Sherlock. Chapter 6 tells you how to make an Internet connection with a modem.

Tip

The basic functionality of Sherlock, as implemented in Mac OS 10.2 and later, is based on a third-party application known as Watson. Watson offers an expanded list of channels and other bells and whistles not featured in Sherlock. If you find Sherlock useful, you may want to check out Watson. To find Watson, do a search for it at the OS X tab of www.versiontracker.com.

Opening Sherlock

To begin your search, you can open Sherlock and display its main window by using two different methods.

• Open Sherlock from the Dock. You can open Sherlock and display its window by clicking the Sherlock icon in the Dock at the bottom of the screen. This action opens the Sherlock application, displaying its window. Of course, you won’t be able to open Sherlock from the Dock if someone has removed its icon. (Removing and adding items to the Dock is mentioned in Chapter 4.) Figure 7-15 shows the Sherlock icon in the Dock and in a Finder window.

  
  Figure 7-15: Sherlock’s hat and magnifying glass icon appears in the Applications folder and the Dock.

• Open Sherlock from a Finder window. You can also open Sherlock by double-clicking its icon wherever it appears in a Finder window or even on the Desktop, if someone has put it there. For example, normally a Sherlock icon is in your Applications folder, which you can open by clicking the Applications item in the sidebar of a Finder window.

Exploring the Sherlock window

Sherlock, like so many included applications in Panther, has received a redesign. The layout of the Channels panel has been improved. Figure 7-16 gives you a look at the new Sherlock 3.6 Channels panel.

Figure 7-16: The Sherlock Channels panel in its default state, showing the Channel toolbar, Collections sidebar, and channel information list.

At the top of the Sherlock window is the Channel toolbar. It initially contains the default set of channels that Apple has chosen, but you can change the channels to your liking, as described next.

On the left side of the Channels window you see the Collections sidebar, which allows you to organize your channels into collections. A collection is essentially a folder that contains a set of channels. By default, the sidebar shows five collections.

Click a collection to view its contents in the large list area to the right. To add a channel to a particular collection, you can drag channel icons from the list area to that collection’s folder.

The first collection listed is the Toolbar collection, containing the channels that appear in the Sherlock toolbar. Instead of a folder icon, this collection uses the Sherlock’s hat and magnifying glass icon. To add or remove channels to the toolbar, drag them to or from this folder, or directly to or from the toolbar.

The next collection listed is the Channels Menu, with an icon representing a menu. Collections placed in this folder appear in the Sherlock’s Channels menu.

Below this you find the Apple Channels collection folder. This folder contains the original set of channels that appear in the toolbar.

The Other Channels collection contains a bunch of interesting channels to choose from, provided by Apple. They are fun to look through and to try. You may prefer to have some of them in your toolbar.

Note

You will only see this folder if you boot Sherlock while you have a connection to the Internet.

My Channels is an empty collections folder provided for you to fill with whatever channels you wish.

You can create additional collections by clicking on the plus sign button below the Collections side bar. A new collections folder appears with the default name “untitled” highlighted; type a new name for the collection and press the Return key, the Enter key, or click anywhere on the window to rename the collection.

To delete a collection, click on the collection to highlight it and then press the Delete key.

You can drag any collection folder to a new position in the list — just click and hold on the folder and drag it to its new position, which is marked by a black bar.

The channel to search

Each channel icon specifies the type of information you can search for, including files and folders, Web pages, products, people, or news. Each channel also specifies a group of sources you can search, and in this regard, most channels are actually groups of Internet sites.

You change search channels by selecting a channel icon. When you do, Sherlock reconfigures its window to list the channel’s searchable sources across the bottom of the window and to display appropriate search criteria for the type of information that the channel can search for. Sherlock shows which channel is currently selected by adding the channel name to the title of the Sherlock window.

Every channel has a different pane or panel layout, but many of the elements are shared with other channel panes. Some of the more commonly seen elements are described below.

Tip

Clicking the icon for one of the channel’s searchable sources on the bottom left edge of the Sherlock window (following the words “Content provided by”) causes the URL for that source to load in your default Web browser.

What to search for

Below the channel toolbar is usually a text box in which you enter a search request. The search request consists of words that you want Sherlock to search for. To enter your search request in this text box, click inside it and begin typing. You can also press Tab; however, you may need to press Tab more than once to select this text box and see an insertion point blinking there. To further indicate when the text box is selected, Sherlock highlights it by drawing a blue border around it. Figure 7-17 shows a search request being entered in the text box.

Figure 7-17: The Internet channel window with the text box highlighted.

Below the text box for entering a search request, you may see options for additional search criteria. The combination of options — in fact, whether there are any options — depends on the channel.

The Search and Back buttons

The large round Search button, which is labeled with a picture of a magnifying glass, starts a search and can stop a search that is under way. When the Search button is colored green, clicking it starts a search. When the Search button is colored red, a search is under way and clicking the button stops the search.

The list area

The middle of the channel window usually has a list area. After a search, Sherlock places the list of items it has found in this area. We explore what you can do with found items later in this Chapter. Figure 7-18 shows an example list of found items in the Internet channel window.

Figure 7-18: The Internet channel window after a successful search, listing the found Web sites in order of relevance.

Rearranging Sherlock’s list area

Whether you see a list of found items or a list of searchable sources, you can rearrange the list in several ways. You can

• Resize the list. Drag the drag grip (it looks like an indented dot) in the bar that separates the list from the information area below it to change the relative height of both areas. Resizing the Sherlock window also changes the size of the information area.

• Sort the list. Click the heading of the column by which you want Sherlock to sort the list. Sherlock highlights the column heading.

• Reverse the sort order. Click the column heading that is currently highlighted to change from a descending order to an ascending order or vice versa. The small arrow to the right of the column heading points down for a descending sort or up for an ascending sort.

• Move a column. Drag the column’s heading left or right to move the column. While you drag a column heading, the mouse pointer looks like a clutching hand.

• Resize a column. Drag the borderline on the right side of a column’s heading to resize the column. The mouse pointer looks like a two-headed arrow when you place it over the borderline.

  Tip

  You can’t remove a column from a list of found items, but you can effectively hide it. Simply resize the column to its minimum width and move it to the right side of the list.

The information area

The bottom part of the Sherlock channel window generally displays information about whatever is selected in the list above it. For example, if you select an Internet site from the list of searchable sources, information about that site is displayed. (Information is not available for all Internet sites.) The information area may be blank if nothing is selected in the list. Figure 7-19 shows an example of the information area with a found item selected in the search area.

Figure 7-19: The information area at the bottom of the Sherlock window tells you more about the item selected in the list above it.

Searching Web pages

When you switch Sherlock to the Internet channel, Sherlock reconfigures its window to accommodate the different requirements of an Internet search. Figures 7-17 and 7-18 show Sherlock set to the Internet channel.

Searching the Internet channel

1. Click the Internet channel button if it’s not already selected.

2. In the text box, enter one or more words that describe the information you want to find.

   To enter text, the text box must be selected. If necessary, you can accomplish this by clicking inside the box or pressing Tab as needed to place an insertion point in the box.

   If the box already contains text from a previous search request, pressing Tab selects this text so that you can replace it simply by typing.

   The search request you enter is interpreted differently by various Web search engines, directories, and other Internet search sites. Sherlock will not attempt to revise or adjust your request to accommodate these different interpretations. In general, you can simply enter a series of words that you think may generate results, such as Olympic bobsled trials or outdoor camping. You can also try interposing words that express a logical relationship, such as and, or, and not. You have to experiment with different combinations of words to see what generates the best results with different Internet search sites.

3. Click the Search button or press Return to begin the search.

Getting Better Web Search Results

The way you phrase your request when searching the Internet can profoundly affect the results. Each search engine, directory, and other site that you search on the Internet may take into account word order, punctuation, capitalization, and logical relationships, such as and, or, and not. Making matters even more complicated, the various search sites do not all follow the same rules for evaluating a search request. Nevertheless, these general guidelines can help you phrase your request so that your Internet searches in Sherlock turn up the results you want:

• Word order: Try putting the most important words first, even if you have to enter them in an unnatural order. Many search engines, directories, and other search sites consider the order of words in your request when determining how well each Web page matches your request. For example, you may get better results with Stooges Three than with Three Stooges.

• Logical relationships: Use the words and, or, and not to express logical relationships between words and phrases as follows:

  • and before a word means that you want information that includes the word; between two words means that you want only information that contains both the words.

  • or between two words means that you want information that contains either one or both of the words.

  • not or – (a minus sign) before a word means that you want information that does not include the word.

For example, searching for Aztec and Toltec finds information that includes both terms. If you search for Aztec or Toltec, you’ll get a lot more results because your results will include information that contains either term. Search for Aztec not Toltec and you’ll get results that include the first term but don’t include the second term. Most Internet search engines and directories recognize logical relationships expressed by and, or, and not.

• Commas: Try using commas between words and phrases. Although many search engines, directories, and other search sites don’t require commas, some work better if you separate each keyword or phrase with a comma. A comma has generally the same effect as the word or, but commas cause some search sites to consider a Web page to better match your request when the site contains more of the words or phrases in your request.

• Capitalization: Some search engines, directories, and other search sites notice whether you capitalize words. If you don’t capitalize, they ignore capitalization while searching; if you do capitalize, they look for the same capitalization as yours.

• Quotation marks: Some search sites prefer that you put phrases or proper names between quotation marks, such as “tape recorder” or “Huckleberry Finn.” Additionally, some search sites find variations of unquoted words but not of quoted words. For example, searching these sites for international finds variations including intern, national, internationals, and so on; searching these sites for “international” finds only the literal quoted word.

Looking at Internet search results

Sherlock begins displaying the results of searching the Internet channel as soon as it receives them from any of the search sites. As other search sites return their results, Sherlock merges them in the list area. For each Web page that matches your search request, Sherlock displays an icon indicating the search site that found the page together with the page’s name, relevance to your search request, and Web site. You can rearrange the list of results as described earlier.

You can see a summary of any listed Web page by clicking its icon, name, or site. The summary appears in the information area below the list of results. The summary is provided by the search site, and its composition varies from one search site to the next.

Seeing a listed Web page

You can see all of a Web page that appears in Sherlock’s list of results by doing either of the following:

• Double-click the name of a listed Web page that you want to see.

• Drag the name of a listed Web page to a Web browser window.

Whichever method you use, Sherlock sends the page’s Web address to your Web browser, which takes over and attempts to load the page via your Internet connection.

Copying a listed Web page’s summary

You can copy part of the summary by selecting the Web page in the list area, clicking in the information area of the Sherlock window, and choosing Edit Select All, then Edit Copy. Sherlock places about 140 characters of the summary onto the Clipboard. Then you can go to TextEdit or any other application that lets you edit text and insert the partial summary by choosing Edit Paste.

Alternatively, you can select the text and drag it to its destination.

Copying a listed Web page’s address

You can copy the address of a Web page by selecting the page in the list of search results and dragging the Web page listing from Sherlock’s window to the window of a text document or other place where you can edit text. Dragging a Web page listing from Sherlock inserts the page’s address, not its name.

Saving a link to a listed Web page

If you’d like to create a file that links to one of the Web pages from Sherlock’s list of Internet search results so that you can see the page later, drag the page’s name from Sherlock’s list to any Finder window, the Desktop, or a folder icon in either of these places. This causes the Finder to create an Internet Location file, which you can open any time you want to see the Web page. You can recognize an Internet Location file by its distinctive icon, featuring the at-sign (@) symbol.

Cross Reference

You’ll find more information about Internet Location files in Chapter 6.

Searching other Internet channels

As previously mentioned, besides the basic Internet channel for searching the Web, Sherlock has several other predefined Internet channels loaded into its toolbar by default. You can switch to any of the following Internet channels by clicking the icon in the toolbar: Pictures, Stocks, Movies, Yellow Pages, eBay, Flights, Dictionary, Translation, and AppleCare. These channels are described in the following paragraphs.

Pictures channel

The Pictures channel includes search sites for finding pictures on the Internet. To use it, enter a subject you want to find pictures of in the text box, and click the Search button. To see the Internet address of a found picture, click the picture once to select the picture. The Internet address shows in the bottom of the Sherlock window. Double-clicking a picture sends the Internet address to your Web browser.

Stocks channel

The Stocks channel provides the ability to track stocks you are interested in. You can see a close-to-real-time price (delayed 15 minutes), see a summary of recent news headlines if any exist for the company, and view a graph of the stock’s performance over time. If you select a news article in the news pane, a link will appear in the information area at the bottom of the window. Clicking that link shows the story in the Web browser. To add a new stock to the list, enter the company’s name or stock abbreviation in the search field and click the magnifying glass to start the search. A view of the Stocks channel is shown in Figure 7-20.

Figure 7-20: Use the Stocks channel to track stocks and see financial news.

Movies channel

The Movies channel has movie, theater, and show time information provided by Moviefone.com. To use this channel, choose to organize either by movies or theaters, enter a zip code, and choose a date from the pop-up menu on the right, and then press Return. When the list of movies appears, choose the movie you are interested in, and the middle pane will show the theaters the movie is playing at. Choose a theater to see the show times for the selected date. The results include movie name, theater, show times, summary, poster, and the movie trailer, as shown in Figure 7-21.

Figure 7-21: When Sherlock searches the Movies channel, the results include movies currently playing, theatres, show times, a synopsis, a poster, and the movie’s trailer.

A nifty new feature of Sherlock 3.6 is the group of links in the lower-right corner of the Movies channel window. After you have selected a theatre, click on the Restaurants, Shopping, Bars, or Hotels link to “auto-magically” see information about those businesses nearest the theater, as listed in the Phone Book channel. The other link also takes you to the Phone Book channel, but allows you to choose from a long list of business categories.

Phone Book channel

The Phone Book channel provides address, telephone, driving information, and maps for businesses. Enter a city and state or zip code and a business name you’re looking for, and click the Search button. The result lists the name, telephone number, address, and distance as well as driving directions and a map from your specified location for each that matches your search request. A view of the Sherlock Phone Book channel is shown in Figure 7-22.

Figure 7-22: Use the Phone Book channel to find contact information for people or businesses, and see their locations automatically displayed on a map.

A new feature is the white or yellow pages switch at the top left of the window; use the white pages to find information about people, and the yellow pages to find information about businesses. Also new are the pop-up menus for Business Name or Category, and Find Near (Name, City or State, and Zip). And you can now easily print all the results from a small printer button on the right.

eBay channel

The eBay channel can be used to shop and to bid on auctions, just as though you were using a Web browser. You can track auctions through Sherlock, which is probably the easiest way for Mac user to do so. A view of the Sherlock eBay channel is shown in Figure 7-23.

Figure 7-23: Use the eBay channel to shop and bid on auctions.

Flights channel

The Flights channel lets you search for information on flight status of current flights, provided by FlyteComm.com. You can search either for a specific flight by airline and number, or you can search with departure and arrival city. When you find the flight you are interested in, click it and view its arrival or departure status and other information, as shown in Figure 7-24.

Figure 7-24: Use the Flights channel to search for information on current flight status.

One of the niftiest bits of information is a chart, available for certain flights, which tracks the flight’s progress on a weather map!

Notice the small button in the lower-right corner with a switch icon. This button is the Show Channel Preferences switch for Flights. Click it, and the Channel Preferences for Flights sheet comes down, allowing you to select what continent you want to search in for airlines and airports.

Dictionary channel

The Dictionary channel searches for information on words, acronyms, and the names of famous people. To use the Dictionary channel, enter a word, name, acronym, or term in the text field and then click the Search button. Synonyms, definitions, and other information appear, as shown in Figure 7-25.

Figure 7-25: Use the Dictionary channel to search for information on words, acronyms, and famous names.

Translation channel

Need something translated from one language to another? Try the Translation channel. Enter the text you wish to translate from in the top field labeled Original Text, select a “to and from” language pair from the pop-up menu, and then click the Translate button. An example is shown in Figure 7-26.

Figure 7-26: Use the Translation channel to translate text to and from languages.

Please note that the Translation channel is most useful for roughly decoding an excerpt so you can get the gist of the meaning; or for the simple translation of short phrases and sentences. Do not depend upon it for flawlessly accurate translations; remember, it’s only a computer! However, its sometimes barely intelligible translations can provide an excellent laugh....

AppleCare channel

The AppleCare channel lets you search Apple’s Knowledge Base of information on Apple hardware and software. Enter a topic or description of the item or issue in the text field in the upper-left and click the Search button. Knowledge Base articles appear in the main field. Clicking a Document title shows the article in the information area at the bottom of the Sherlock window. An example is shown in Figure 7-27.

Figure 7-27: Use Sherlock to access Apple’s helpful online Knowledge Base articles.

The Knowledge Base articles frequently contain links to other articles, which may offer more information about your technical issue. If you click on a link, your default Web browser will open to display the linked Web page.

Every Mac user should become familiar with the AppleCare channel, because it is sometimes very helpful when you encounter a technical problem. However, expect to find the solution to only some problems, not all.