THE TALLMANIA WEB DIRECTORY: COMPUTERS & THE INTERNET
Be a smart user.
Web Directories & Search Engines:
Why do I use Google? The lack of advertising, the quickness, the way it magically ends up usually giving me the sites I want. For its excellent Image Search to find pictures and photos on the Web. For lots of reasons. If you're an expert, go right to the Advanced Search Page.
I also frequently use Yahoo!, despite the annoying exclamation point. The Yahooligans! version for kids is a good first bet for most subjects you're likely to be doing research on for school.
But for an actual high-powered web search, I use AltaVista.
The Internet Detectives in Madison, Wisconsin have the only other web directory similar to this one on the web (I think)--sites reviewed and recommended by middle school students.
I refuse to recommend that certain butler you can ask questions to, especially the version for kids, since I've never found it to work very well. But I can recommend the Kids Click web search for kids, established by librarians, easy to use, and screened so only a few good sites come up, not 10,000 bad ones.
How To Search These aren't search engines or web directories, but sites that try to explain them, and how to use them:
A good start is at the Spider's Apprentice, where they explain and rate web searchers all over the web.
One of the best resources for webmasters is called Webmonkey. And they run the best beginners' introduction to web site building at Webmonkey For Kids. Just starting out? Give it a look.
Just how do computers work? One of the best sites on the whole Internet, How Stuff Works, has a good page lifting the lid off your computer and telling you what's what.
History:
Who invented the World Wide Web? A man named Tim Berners-Lee, and he did it right here in Geneva.