Yoozila.com - A Clean Alternative Search Engine
Yoozila.com is an alternative search engine with a clean and easy to use interface. The actual search results are nothing new and pretty straight forward, but what does separate this site from others is it’s interface. As Yoozila puts states it; “Why shouldn’t search results look nice?”. And of course, why shouldn’t they?
As I mentioned above, the real strength of this web site is in it’s interface. The results page includes many unique features and makes extensive use of AJAX and in-page features that allow you to better view your results. Since this is pretty much all about the interface… the following paragraphs will pick it apart in detail and highlight some of the unique features.
The Search Results
The search results (sites it returns) are pretty decent. I’ve been looking through the documentation and the interface to see if they’re using one of the major search engines like Google or Yahoo!, but none can be found to date. So, I’m assuming that the database and search engine behind Yoozila is homegrown.
That being said, it’s pretty impressive if this is something they built from scratch. All my search results returned similar and satisfactory results when compared to other engines. So the results are nothing spectacular, but work well.
The Interface
Now let’s get into the bread and butter of this little search engine… it’s interface and design.
When you first get to the homepage, it’s a pretty simple and standard logo with a search bar interface. The big difference in the interface starts when you begin to type in your search query. Yoozila provides it’s users with a word suggestion for the search query being typed.
On the search results page, one of the first things you’ll notice is a visual search element included in the results. In the standard view, each result is provided with a small screen shot along with the page title, description and URL. In addition, you can also change the search results display by clicking on one of three buttons. As a default, the search results include all the above mentioned features, but you can also remove the description or the screen shots if you choose.
Another nice feature of the Yoozila is the Filter Results box on the right hand side of the screen. This box includes options for filtering your results based on file types, languages, license types, and regions. It also provides you with an additional search box to search within the results. This is a nice little add-on that allows you to keep your existing results without having to start all over again.
Conclusion
So, in closing, Yoozila.com is a nice little alternative to alternative search engines. It provides decent results, a few nice features not found on other search engines, and a clean and easy to use interface. If you’d like to see some of the alternatives to the big cats, give Yoozila.com a try.
