Simple Search :: Sputtr
Don’t ask me to say it and thankfully I don’t have to. On face value this looks like a good service. Although I am a little reserved. However this new entry into the search engine arena might be what some people are looking for.
Sputtr is a search search page, it has a swag of search engines to choose from. But, Sputtr itself is not a search engine and the results are not displayed by the site itself. What it does do however is put a group of search engines at your disposable, in one place, but that is all. When you do a search you are thrown to that particular sites page with the results for the search string that you entered.
What does annoy me is the fact that they claim that they are faster than most others out there. When in actual fact the search engine is as fast as the services that they represent - so in actual fact Sputtr is as fast as they are. Not entirely sure how it can be faster when Sputtr uses the selected services search engine, throws you to that sites search results and reloads a page.
However, that said I think that it is a great looking site, with a simplistic design and access to a wide range of search engines. This is a good thing. Many of the multiple search engines out there focus on complex searches with lots of options and variables. whonu, is one such service that we talked about in Episode #042, it has options and features up the wazoo. Sputtr doesn’t do any of that. Simple straight forward search, that looks good. Great for people who are easily confused, or want something like that. I think that it would also be great for kids to use (thinking the tweens here).
In summary, nice looking site. Simple direct, easy to use service. Has some great popular and newer Web 2.0 services like twitter and some classics that are a must. But I think the service is limited and that they should go easy on making claims that are somewhat misleading. Worth checking out if you are wanting simple quick access to lots of services.
Dave
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May 14th, 2007 at 10:17 am
So would this be equivalent to a Web 2.0 services search engine? In other words, a search engine that searches popular web 2.0 service sites?
May 14th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Not really Jeff, this site doesn’t do the searching they more form a launch pad to those services. Once you wack a search in it redirects you to that service and the results of your search. And the search is only one site that you select, not across sites.
May 14th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Yep, that is EXACTLY what it is…NOT.
But the question is WHY would you want one that only searches one service at a time, I suppose its nice that all the sites are on one page.
If they had any idea they would have had a way to select the places you want to search SIMULTANEOUSLY with a custom output page.