Evan Kusko - ENGH 375 Module 1

Using Web Browsers

1. 1. I mainly use Google Chrome as my browser, and my default page is chrome://newtab.
   
   
   2. If you're using Google Chrome, you can change your default site to load in your internal settings using chrome > settings > on startup > webpages . If you want to change your browser settings as well, you can do that on windows using start menu > default apps > browsers .


2. In most browsers, you can change the font, font size, and settings either in your computer settings for reading files or by going into your browsers settings and looking for the appearance tab. In certain browsers, you can even upload your own UTF-8 font using an .otf file. This is mostly to make pages more readable or more suitable for your needs. For example, if you're planning on printing a page with small lettering, adjusting to a serif font can drastically improve legibility.


3. The default search engine in Chrome is Google, and you can access it from the searchbar at the top that is automatically opened upon the startup of the browser or the creation of a new tab.

Searching the Web

4. 1. Google provided over 2.7 billion results. After a cursory look at them, most were related to the topic, though I'm unsure if more the seventy to eighty percent of the results would be useful information for what I would be looking for.
   
   
   2. Adding quotation marks removed some of the ad-based links and gave some more specific results, like ones at GMU tailored to me, and some online courses or personal public-use presentations on web design. Below are attatched some of the sites that I was recommended:
      
      http://mason.gmu.edu/~jphan5/375/module1-2.html
      https://prezi.com/6pmjrrse7-vy/learning-to-make-web-pages-using-html/
      http://www.web-site-building-tips.com/learning-to-make-web-pages.html
      https://www.sololearn.com/discuss/1475965/how-can-i-make-a-red-frame-in-php-of-200px-x-200px-with-variables-i-am-learning-to-make-web-pages
   
   
5. From my experience, using the other search engines did not have a significant impact in what my results were, save for that the non-Chrome browsers did not have personalized suggestions in the same way due to the fact that I was not logged into the site.


6. While Wolfram Alpha is definitely a powerful tool, I would not yet classify it as a search engine since it only is capable of given back a handful of local responses for a small subset of searches. For example, I initially thought to search "esports" in order to test the depth of the search engine, and after putting it in I got no sites back.

Using Metasearch Sites

7. 1. Metasites tend to have a bit more narrow results than regular search sites. In my case, I compared DogPile to Chrome and found that though DogPile had fewer results by volume, I more immediately had access to relevant ones on DogPile.
   
   
   2. The few matches that I got between the previously mentioned sites were a few tailored results for similar Mason-affiliated sites, often for students in the past working on this same project. Otherwise, while some sites were accessible in both formats, there wasn't a ton of carryover between the two.
   
   
   3. While I'm not super certain that my guess will be particularly accurate, I'd assume that closer to eighty to ninety percent of the results on metasearch sites would be related and useful towards the topic.

   Finding Multimedia Elements

8. 1. Most search engines have an images or videos function that searches for images on sites with words that match the criteria of the initial search.
   
   
   2. Generally, images and videos are the easiest and most accessible search options. I experimented with looking for ways to search up sites that contain elements like unity or other elements of flash games, but didn't have a ton of success other than finding a bunch of achive sites that house sites with those still intact, though only useable on other browsers.
   
   
   3. I did a search for Trixie Mattel, an artist both known for their video series as well as their music career. The most successful search was for images, where the breadth of modeling that she's done made it easy to find consistently useful photos. When I searched for music, I found that it became much more difficult to find effective or useful results after a bit of scrolling.
   
   
   4. Most search engines will mention that copyright will apply if a user saves or reuses any of the images that they encounter while searching. For most people, this isn't an issue, but if you're looking to make money in some way with the media that you find, there can be consequences if media isn't cited properly.
   
   
9. Creative Commons is a nonprofit that liscenses and protects media such that independent creators can have better access when developing their own creative projects. This can take the form of music, images, or video.

Put it all Together

10. My main takeaway from these tasks involves moreso how I will conduct searches in the future. In particular, I've gleaned that tailoring your search engines and criteria can make your results more accurate as well as streamline the creative process when it comes to creative process. In addition, using neocities to host my website would mean that my site would be part of the metabrowswer for all neocities websites, a fact that, although I understood, never quite fully developed in my mind.