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Site Search Tools

Directory Creation Tools

Directories of links, such as Yahoo, allow you to show the scope and focus of your information, whether you are on a single host, a large multi-server site, an intranet or covering a topic on the Web. At each level, the category names provide instant context information to users. Rather than a simple list, such as the results of a search, the more and more specific categories (for example "History - European - Medieval - Provance") show you how the pages fit into the larger set of information.

There are a number of applications that can help you do this, although the amount of automation can vary. Some programs simply allow anyone to manually add a URL to a specific category by submitting a site. Others allow catalogers to create sophisticated rules to specify certain words and phrases that will place a page in a category. Still others attempt to automate the entire process, grouping pages into topics based on the contents.

When evaluating these applications, remember that they are simply software -- no matter the elegance of the algorithms, a program can never understand the concepts involved in a page, and will sometimes place pages in the wrong categories. For example, one very automated system has an "Arts and Humanities" category that includes links to an internet services consulting company and a singer-songwriter's personal home page (along with many more appropriate pages). To serve your site users better, plan for a significant amount of human cataloging and editing.

Directory Creation Products

AskJeeves Corporate Edition: Categories created to answer questions rather than provide a directory.
Examples: AskJeeves, Dell Online Support: Ask Dudly
Autonomy: Creates concept maps and topic clusters without human intervention. Users have complained that the system can be slow and the automation difficult to understand.
Article: Infonauts: Mike Lynch Interview Upside, October 29, 1998: Interview with Autonomy's CEO, Mike Lynch, describing the origins and background of the company and summarizing the various technologies.
Article: Knowledge managers get help: Autonomy, Vignette link tools Infoworld, January 11, 1999 by Emily Fitzloff: Autonomy's technology can automatically categorize data stored in Vignette's StoryServer
Concept Map (Conceptual Dimensions): Works with Verity to extend the Topic Map feature
HyperSeek (InteractiveWeb): Database-oriented link catalog application includes customizable HTML for categories, control of search results listings, admin tools.

IndexFinger: Unix application for directory creation with a simple interface, extensive logging and automation. Free "lite" version.
Examples: WallStOnline, OzOnline (Australia)
IndexSite (ActiveThreads): Another directory-maker application, requires manual categorization, runs on Windows 95/98/NT. Awarded 5 stars from TUCOWS.
Example: Cadé (Brazil)
Links (Gossamer Threads, Inc.): A set of Perl scripts with an excellent browser administration interface with automated submissions and approvals. Free for personal use.
Example: Associate-It
MondoSearch: Creates directory categories based on the server file path, which can be adjusted and renamed by administrators.

Netscape Compass Server: Automatically creates a customized category tree to show the heirarchical organization of the data. Users have complained that the categorization can be erratic.
Sageware: Allows catalogers to set up sophisticated topic definitions, inserts documents matching the rules automatically.
Article: Sageware: Creating the Categories for Information Retrieval Patricia Seybold Group Snapshot, December 1997 by Geoffrey Bock.
Semio SemioMap: Data mining software that extracts concepts from textual information and displays the concepts and relationships in a 3d map.
Article: Semio Brings Concepts To Web Search System WebWEEK, 1997/02/03 by Jeremy Carl: Describes Semio's attempt to improve text searching by viewing conceptual relationships in a 3-D model.
Thinkmap: A tool for displaying complex information using an animated multidimensional display designed for user interaction using Java.
Example: Plumb Design Visual Thesaurus
Example: Smithsonian Without Walls
Article: Three-Dimensional Data Space Is In This Architect's Search Plan (InternetWorld March 16, 1998, by Andrew Marlatt).: Interview with Marc Tinkler, designer of the Thinkmap system, who describes the concepts and ideas behind the program. It's designed as a toolkit for data providers to display moving information designs.
Article: Playing Charades With Your Web Search Engine InternetWorld March 16, 1998, by Nate Zelnick; Analysis of the problems of expressing relationships between concepts, such as the Thinkmap approach.
Thunderstone Automated Categorization Engine: This application works with the Webinator indexer to add pages to categories automatically.
Example: Thunderstone Web Site Catalog
Ultraseek CCE (Content Classification Engine): Extends the Ultraseek engine by allowing administrators to import a site map and specify top level and subcategories, then create rules using wildcards and regular expression searching to match pages to those categories.
Example: CCE Demo Site
Verity Knowledge Organizer: Creates knowledge trees and category heirarchies using rules.
See also:

CGI Resources Site - Link Indexing Scripts

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