Accessible Search: Answers to common questions

<span class="byline-author">Posted by T.V. Raman, Research Scientist</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">From time to time, our own <a href="http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/raman/">T.V. Raman</a> shares his tips on how to use Google from his perspective as a technologist who cannot see -- tips that sighted people, among others, may also find useful. - Ed.</span><br /><br />Since we launched <a href="http://labs.google.com/accessible">Google Accessible Search</a> in July, we have received lots of feedback along with many questions. I'll briefly summarize these with answers.<br /><br /><b>Q: Does Accessible Search filter out inaccessible content?</b><br />A: No. First of all, "accessible" is a very subjective measure; what's more, queries can vary widely with respect to how accessible the results are. As an example, if you are looking for information such as weather forecasts or reference material, like the definition of an unfamiliar term, the set will often consists of both accessible and inaccessible content. In these cases, Google Accessible Search promotes those results that have been measured to be more accessible. On the other hand, if the particular query is about videogames, the chances are fairly high that a majority of the best results for that query will be visually busy pages. So in the final analysis, we <span style="font-weight: bold;">do not</span> filter content in Google Accessible Search; we pick the best results exactly as we do with regular Google search, and then re-order the top results by their level of accessibility.<br /><br /><b>Q: The result set looks identical to regular search. Is this intentional?</b><br />A: The operational word in the above question is <span style="font-style: italic;">looks</span>. Google Accessible Search does not in any way change the look and feel of Google search results. What it does is re-order results based on how accessible they are.<br /><br /><b>Q: How has Google enhanced navigating its search results?</b><br />A: Since Google Accessible Search launched, many people have sent feedback about the results page (both Google Accessible and regular search) being difficult to navigate with screenreaders. In response, we have updated the results pages in both cases to have section headers that can be used in conjunction with screenreader hotkeys to quickly skim through the page. Thus, once Google has responded to your search query, use your access technology's "move by section" keys to move between the section that displays sponsored ads and the individual results.<br /><br /><b>Q: How can I perform more complex searches?</b><br />A: Notice that <a href="http://labs.google.com/accessible"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> http://labs.google.com/accessible</span></a> has a link to <a href="http://labs.google.com/accessible/advanced_search.html">Advanced Search</a> in addition to the simple text box. Use this link to focus your search on documents in a specific language. The resulting search will continue to use Google Accessible Search for ordering the results.<br /><br /><b>Q: How can I compare regular search with Google Accessible?</b><br />A: Google Accessible Search is an experiment, and to be an effective experiment, people need to be able to easily compare the results obtained by using regular Google search versus Google Accessible. Notice that the top of the results page contains a pair of radio buttons labeled "Web Search" and "Accessible Search." You can easily repeat your search by pressing the appropriate radio button and clicking on the "submit" button.<br /><br /><b>Q: How can I make my site rank higher in Accessible Search?</b><br />A: Use our <a href="http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769">Webmaster Guidelines</a> as a starting point. Once you've fully addressed these, I'd suggest reviewing your content to see how well it degrades gracefully. In addition to viewing the page in text-only mode (as the Guidelines suggest), also try the following additional checks:<br />- browse your site on a monochrome display;<br />- use your site without a mouse.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Update: </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Corrected to note that we *do not* filter Accessible Search content. </span>

Accessible Search: Answers to common questions

Posted by T.V. Raman, Research Scientist From time to time, our own T.V. Raman shares his tips on how to use Google from his perspective as...

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Mapping Europe

<span class="byline-author">Posted by John Hanke, Director, Google Earth & Maps</span><br /><br />As part of our ongoing effort to connect people to information about the world -- or perhaps le monde, die welt, el mundo -- around them, I'm pleased to tell you about the addition of a new team to Google. Today we acquired <a href="http://www.Endoxon.com">Endoxon</a>, an Internet mapping solutions company based in Lucerne, Switzerland.<br /><br />The Endoxon team has demonstrated passion and innovation in online mapping and has developed compelling technology that will enhance our Google geo products worldwide. We're also excited about having a dedicated team in Europe that can bring a distinctively European focus to our Maps products in those markets.

Mapping Europe

Posted by John Hanke, Director, Google Earth & Maps As part of our ongoing effort to connect people to information about the world -- or...

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Your easiest holiday task

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Costin Manolache, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />We <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/get-your-people-talking.html">launched</a> <a href="http://google.com/a">Google Apps for Your Domain</a> at the end of August, and since then we've been getting great feedback from people all over. Organizations from Thailand, Argentina, and even our neighbors in Palo Alto have set up private-label Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar, and spiffy customizable start pages for their custom domains. We think it's especially cool that thousands of students are able to connect better with their classmates -- and their schools' IT directors no longer need to wring their hands over spam and clogged inboxes.<br /><br />"Hey, wait, Costin," you say. "That's great for them, but our organization doesn't have a custom domain."<br /><br />Well, I'm excited to let you know that we've made signing up for Google Apps for Your Domain much easier for those of you that don't yet have your own domain. We've partnered with <a href="http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp">GoDaddy.com</a> and <a href="http://www.enom.com/">eNom</a>, two leading domain registration services, to offer domains for $10 per year. And I like the fact that we're including private registration to protect your personal information.<br /><br />Now you've got one-stop shopping for all the services currently on the Google Apps for Your Domain platform -- just find a domain, buy it, and get started. We'll do all the behind-the-scenes configuration work for you. For now this is available for .com, .net,.org, .biz, and .info domains, but we're working on bringing it elsewhere soon. We're also constantly working to introduce more cool new features to this service, so be sure to check back for updates.

Your easiest holiday task

Posted by Costin Manolache, Software Engineer We launched Google Apps for Your Domain at the end of August, and since then we've been ...

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Holiday goodies from Picasa Web Albums

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Adrian Graham, Product Manager, Picasa<br /></span><br /><br />What’s a holiday without the memorable (and embarrassing) photos? The holidays are almost here, which (at least if you’re in my family) means babies chewing on presents, the dog dressed in a ridiculous reindeer costume, and someone (cough, Uncle Charlie) passed out after too much eggnog. Although I think about this now and wince in advance, I know that I’m going to want to capture these moments and more importantly, share them with the rest of my family and friends. That’s why I’m excited about the new features we’ve added to Picasa Web Albums, just in time for the holidays.<br /><br />Print ordering is my favorite—it’s something you have told us you've wanted since we first launched. Now, when you or anyone else views photos in <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com">Picasa Web Albums</a>, there’s an option to order prints directly from the site. We currently offer prints and products from Shutterfly and PhotoWorks, but we’ll be adding more soon. <br /><br />Other new features include video upload for easy sharing (it’s just like with photos—select them in Picasa and click the “Web Album” button) and searching tools. Now you can search over your own captions, album titles, and album descriptions, and you can even search for photos in your friends’ public albums. Digging up that picture of me trying to figure out which end of the holiday turkey is "up" should be easier than ever. <br /><br />So <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/tester/SampleAlbum/photo#5008248582488977682">check out these new features</a> before all the festivities start. And however you celebrate the holidays this year, I hope you’ll take lots of pictures.

Holiday goodies from Picasa Web Albums

Posted by Adrian Graham, Product Manager, Picasa What’s a holiday without the memorable (and embarrassing) photos? The holidays are almost h...

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Now you can search for U.S. patents

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Doug Banks, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />We've all heard about the Wright brothers, Thomas Edison, and Alexander Graham Bell -- famous inventors whose creative minds changed the course of history. But there are many more like them, and millions of inventions that have been patented in the U.S. alone -- from useful everyday items such as <a href="http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPATRE19128&id=ZBMoAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#PPP1,M1">adhesive tape</a> and <a href="http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT2196066&id=EvtGAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1">contact lenses</a> to, er, things useful in specific situations, like this <a href="http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT4833729&id=KBE3AAAAEBAJ&pg=RA1-PA4-IA1">shark protector suit</a> or this <a href="http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT4076251&id=N-c5AAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#PPA2,M1">amusement device incorporating simulated cheese and mice</a>.<br /><br />Today, we're excited to be releasing the beta version of <a href="http://www.google.com/patents">Google Patent Search</a>, which makes it easy to search the full text of the U.S. patent corpus and find patents that interest you. Start your exploration at <b>www.google.com/patents</b> or visit the <a href="http://www.google.com/advanced_patent_search">Advanced Patent Search page</a> to search by criteria, including patent number, inventor, and filing date. You can view images of original patents online.<br /><br />Google Patent Search uses much of the same technology that powers <a href="http://books.google.com">Google Book Search</a>, so you can <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/new-way-to-browse-books.html">scroll through pages and zoom in</a> on text and illustrations just like you can with books.<br /><br />It's a natural extension of our mission to make this public domain government information more easily accessible using Google’s search technology. We’re pleased to have started with over 7 million patents granted by the <a href="http://www.uspto.gov/">United States Patent and Trademark Office</a> (USPTO) and look forward to expanding our coverage over time.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Update:</span> Removed mention of saving and printing as we're still working on that.

Now you can search for U.S. patents

Posted by Doug Banks, Software Engineer We've all heard about the Wright brothers, Thomas Edison, and Alexander Graham Bell -- famous in...

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Tis (almost) the season

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Melissa Crounse, Chief Elf</span><br /><br />This year, good old St. Nick has learned a new trick: he has dispatched a few of his most experienced elves to squirrel away some toys in the farthest corners of Google Earth. Every day from now until Christmas Eve, a clue will appear outside Santa's workshop leading to another toy -- and every day, the location of the previous day's toy will be revealed.<br /><br />Ready to scour the earth and find your first toy? Once you've got the newest version of <a href="http://earth.google.com">Google Earth</a> installed, <a href="http://earth.google.com/santa/">let's get started.</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7609/900/1600/459932/Earth_SantaTracker_06.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7609/900/320/379044/Earth_SantaTracker_06.jpg" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /></div>

Tis (almost) the season

Posted by Melissa Crounse, Chief Elf This year, good old St. Nick has learned a new trick: he has dispatched a few of his most experienced e...

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Nifty Toolbar upgrades for Firefox

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Annie Sullivan, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />Ever since the latest version of the Google Toolbar for IE came out, Firefox users have been asking when they'll see the same new features in their favorite browser. Well, we've been hard at work on a new version of the Toolbar for Firefox -- <a href="http://tools.google.com/firefox/toolbar/FT3/intl/en/" title="Google Toolbar 3 Beta">Google Toolbar 3 Beta</a> -- that lets you access your bookmarks from any computer, add custom buttons to your Toolbar, and share web pages via Blogger, Gmail, and SMS.<br /><br />In addition to adding all the features from the Google Toolbar for IE, there's another one just for Firefox users. When I surf the web, I want to be able to look at all the files I come across right in my browser. But a lot of times, I have to download files and view them with a separate application instead. Since <a href="http://docs.google.com/">Google Docs & Spreadsheets</a> launched, I've been able to look at those files right in my browser. Except the process is kind of clunky right now: I have to right-click on a link, download the file to my machine, and then upload it to Google Docs & Spreadsheets. I want to be able to just click on a link to a document or spreadsheet and have it show up in my browser. So I added a feature to the Google Toolbar for Firefox to do that.<br /><br />Now you can surf the web a little bit faster. I hope you enjoy this feature as much as I do!

Nifty Toolbar upgrades for Firefox

Posted by Annie Sullivan, Software Engineer Ever since the latest version of the Google Toolbar for IE came out, Firefox users have been ask...

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