TimeSearch

[John Simkin]

TimeSearch, launched in March 2007, is an offshoot of Bamber Gascoigne’s HistoryWorld. But it is designed essentially as a search engine – a quicker, more focused and more enjoyable way of finding information and images relating to history.

The search is done through timelines, bringing in a useful element of serendipity. With Google you need to know what you are looking for before you type in your search terms. Here you can become intrigued by unfamiliar events within your own subject, and thus find yourself searching for things you didn’t even know existed.

But the newest element in TimeSearch is that events come with related search terms already attached to them. A click on an icon links straight to the search results, and the user can choose whether to go to articles or images.

Finally, the search can be made in any or all of a selection of sites. With conventional search engines you search either the entire web or a single site. Here you hunt within your own chosen territory, which can be as broad or narrow as you wish.

http://www.timesearch.info/