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siteblst.faq
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1995-11-16
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Internet Site Blaster
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the Internet Site Blaster program?
The Internet Site Blaster is an innovative way to put the power
of the Internet at your fingertips. Scientists say that we use
only a small portion of our brain at any one time. The Internet
is growing so large and diverse that any one user is using only a
small part of the Internet at any one time. A large portion of
the Internet goes unused because:
(a) It is hard to locate sites that deal with special topics of
interest.
(b) It is difficult to keep track of all of your favorite sites,
and be able to return to them quickly without searching for them.
(c) Bookmarks help, but managing large numbers of bookmarks is
difficult.
Once a site becomes a favorite, it is usually saved to a bookmark.
There is a practical limit to how many bookmarks you can really
manage. After an Internet user collects 60-100 bookmarks, these
bookmarks become less and less helpful. Interesting sites do not
stand out among bookmarks even with 100 sites in the bookmark
list. However there are MILLIONS of sites on the Internet.
The Internet Site Blaster is a database that includes 30,000
Internet Site Descriptions and Addresses already entered for you.
This database is small, fast, and remarkably efficient in its use
of disk space. Adding even 10,000 records results in an increase
of only 400 - 500K. So the database size is only limited by the
size of your hard drive.
2. How can an Internet user easily find specific Internet site
information?
The database is searchable by topics found in the Description
area of a site, searchable by the site's Address, searchable by
the site's Catgory, and by any Notes that have been entered
specially for that site. There are functions in the program that
will locate all of the Internet Sites that match a certain search
term or phrase, and gather these sites into one group that can be
browsed separately or even saved to disk with the Export feature
of the Site Blaster program. The program will also allow
searching for a specific term or phrase with an instant lookup
feature that will locate one certain Internet site.
3. Why do you have so many Internet sites in the database?
The Internet Site Blaster's database represents only one slice
out of the the huge Internet pie. The larger the slice, the
better the idea a person has of what the whole pie is like. Since
adding new sites causes no degradation in performance or excess
consumption of disk space, there is no reason to not include as
many sites as possible. There is a version of the program called
the "Internet Site Blaster - Lite" that has only 15,000 sites and
sells for a lower price than the full database. See below.
4. How do you collect these links? Are they just compilations of
the different What's New and What's New Too lists?
All of the sites in the database have been visited by me. Just
like the Internet Robots, Worms, and Spiders, I visit a large
number of sites every week, but I visit in person. It would be
simple to just copy the information in the different What's New
sites, but if you've looked at these lists, most of what is
listed is not of interest to the average Internet user. (Nothing
against these sites... I like them and they perform a valuable
service in announcing new Web pages. It's just that for every
one site like "Le Louvre", there are dozens of "Bob's Cool Pages"
sites or commercial sites like "super.internet.access.com.") I
personally visit about two thousand sites every week. About 50
to 100 of those sites will have enough appeal to make it into the
database.
5. How can you personally visit several thousand Internet sites
each week?
The first thing that helps is to pay for an unlimited access
account on the Internet. The second tip is to use a non-
graphical browser, viewing the content on each site in a fraction
of the time it would take to load just one page with graphics on
them. Do I miss out on Web pages that are worth the trip just to
view the graphics? No, I won't be the first to discover a site
like "The Spot", but I'll read about it on the Net and then check
it out with Netscape. So the top graphics Internet sites (by
reputation) are still included in the database.
6. Can users running Netscape (tm) or Mosaic (tm) use the Site
Blaster information with their Web browsers?
Yes, the information can be used by Netscape or Mosaic in several
ways. One method is to use the Export command to send the
desired Internet site information to a text file. This text file
can be printed out and information can be entered by hand into
the Web browsers.
When users Register the program, they will receive a utility to
convert the Internet Site Blaster information into "bookmarks"
that can be imported into Netscape or into "hotlists" that can be
used by Mosaic. Other browsers will be included in this list if
there is sufficient interest.
7. What are the benefits of registration of Internet Site
Blaster?
Besides the 30,000 Internet sites, and the utility to convert
Site Blaster information into Netscape bookmarks and Mosaic
hotlists, registered users will receive "The Internet Primer".
This is a Windows Help file that is full of information on
numerous Internet topics including Searching the Internet,
Internet Starting Points, Using HTML, Designing Web Pages,
Accessing Free-Nets, Software Libraries, Internet Tutorials and
Guides, Internet Access Providers, Helpful Computer Magazines on
the Internet, What's New, What's Cool, What's Hot, and a Complete
Listing of the Virtual Libraries available on the Internet.
8. What about the Internet Site Blaster - Lite?
This version of the program is for individuals who do not want to
make a large committment to surfing the Internet, but still want
to do some exploring with a smaller database. The Internet Site
Blaster - Lite includes all of the same program features and
registration benefits as the full program. The only difference
is that the database is limited to 15,000 sites and costs less
than the full program.
9. How can I order?
You can use a check, money order, VISA, or MasterCard to order.
Please see the file "order.frm" for details and prices.
10. What hardware and software requirements are there for
Internet Site Blaster?
All that is needed are 4 megs of RAM, a VGA monitor, a 386 486 or
586 PC, running Windows 3.x. The program will be prepared for
Windows 95 in several months.
11. Do previous customers of SoloTech Software receive a
discount on the Internet Site Blaster?
Yes, previously registered users of any of SoloTech Software's
products will entitle those individuals to a 30% discount off of
the purchase price.
William Hogg M.D. SoloTech Software
http://www.execpc.com/~wmhogg/share.html
wmhogg@execpc.com
11/95