Greetings,
Searching for anything on the net these days can be a challenge. One
resource that may help in the search for both actual books and book related
web sites is BookSearchEngine, found at
http://www.booksearchengine.com
BookSearchEngine seems geared toward two different tasks. First is a
directory of web sites related to the literary world. Second is a search
feature that scans approximately 50 online bookstores for books you want to
purchase. By and large the site is easy to use and seems to work
reasonably well with most web browsers and access technology.
Avoiding Frames
By default BookSearchEngine uses frames. Anyone wanting to explore the
site with a noframes interface can visit:
http://www.booksearchengine.com/top5.html
for the bookstore and directory search features and
http://www.booksearchengine.com/cgi-bin/tree5.cgi
for the directory of book related web sites.
Using the Directory
BookSearchEngine's directory of web sites can be accessed by choosing the
frame titled "Main," from the main page or by navigating directly to:
http://www.booksearchengine.com/cgi-bin/tree5.cgi
The initial directory page presents 20 or so categories to help narrow what
you want to locate. These include items like Audio Books, Authors,
Fiction, Libraries, Online Books and Reference. Selecting a top level
category takes you to subcategories under that selection. Eventually
(typically two or three levels of categorization) you'll find listings of
actual web sites. As you navigate down any category path, the first
link(s) on subcategory pages will usually be links to the previous category
level you were on. These are the equivalent of using a web browser's back
feature.
Directory listings seem to be a mixed bag. The first listing under Audio
Books was actually Braille Books. A bit quirky if you ask me since braille
is read with the fingers. Further, the Braille Books category mentioned a
few regional libraries in the NLS (national Library System for the Blind
and Physically Handicapped) system but did not contain the main web page
for this service. Still it was nice to see books in braille mentioned.
In other cases finding information with BookSearchEngine was quite fast. I
was able to quickly find web pages devoted to Barbara Kingsolver, an author
I enjoy, by selecting Authors, A-Z, K and finally a link for Kingsolver,
Barbara.
One advantage to BookSearchEngine's directory over something like Yahoo, is
the lack of page clutter with dozens of links to things like yellow pages,
shopping and the score of other items Yahoo uses to attract visitors and
pay the bills. This isn't a slam against Yahoo but if you are looking for
the sort of information BookSearchEngine covers it might be a better
starting point.
Searching the Directory
Use of BookSearchEngine's directory is not limited to simple category
browsing. You can enter a search phrase in the first edit box found at:
http://www.booksearchengine.com/top5.html
and get back a listing of web sites in the directory that match your search
phrase. If you navigate to the main BookSearchEngine page, this edit box
will be the first you encounter when tabbing through the page. Immediately
after the edit box is a combo box (option list to Lynx) to adjust the
number of search results you receive. Following this is the submit button
to start your search. This button is missing any alt tag so will report
itself as "image submit" in browsers that insert this string as a default
or simply "button" in other cases. The missing alt tag is odd because a
subsequent Search button on the search results page allowing you to further
narrow your search is done correctly.
Searching for Books
If you want to use BookSearchEngine to scout out the best price on a book,
you should locate the second edit box in the frame or page mentioned above
for searching bookstores. If you are using a screen reader, it is likely
that you won't hear the correct text entry prompt for this edit box so be
certain you are in the second edit box.
Searches can be done by title, author, ISBN or keyword. Enter this
information in the edit box and locate the combo box (option list to Lynx)
to indicate which type of information you entered. If you are tabbing
through the web page, the combo box will be two presses of tab after the
edit box. This is set at title by default. A second combo box allows you
to indicate whether you want to search for new, used or both types of
books. The default here is new. The button to start your price hunt is
poorly labeled if you are browsing without images, as it has a tag of "a".
It appears immediately after the edit box where you entered your search
term. If you have made any adjustments to the combo boxes mentioned
previously, you have to use shift-tab to return to the button to start your
price search.
In most cases search results will appear in a new window (a second copy of
the program you are using) if you perform your search with a graphical
browser. Before you see actual prices, you may be asked to select from
multiple titles if your search finds duplicate items e.g. an audio
recording and printed version of the same book.
When viewing actual price listings, you will find two links for each book.
The first is a link to the online store where the price was found and the
second a link to shipping information for the given store. The price of
each book appears to the left of the name of the online bookstore where the
price was found. If your screen reader/web browsing combination does not
allow direct cursoring (using the up and down arrows to move through text
directly) you may want to use the tab key to explore the price pages. In
most cases, issuing your screen reader's Say Line command, if you are
browsing with one, will then quicly read you the given price.
To purchase a book, follow the link for the store you want to use. At this
point you'll have to navigate the interface for the store itself and
results with respect to accessibility are all over the map although most
stores seem functional with a bit of experience.
The Negatives
As previously mentioned, BookSearchEngine has a couple problems with alt
tags being absent or poorly used. I have sent a friendly letter mentioning
this to the site contacts.
I should also point out that the site has a combo box that would appear to
be done in Javascript. It is one of the last links in the frame used for
searching and can be used to jump to one of the 20 or so initial categories
in the directory. Given that this functionality is duplicated in the
opening page of the directory and that the opening screen contains more
entries than the combo box, I don't consider this a critical problem. The
combo box works with graphical browsers, although you must be certain to
open it using alt-down arrow, but does not work with Lynx.
In Summary
BookSearchEngine seems like a helpful bookmark to include in your web
browser. The price search feature can be handy to both find lower cost
options for books and discover online book sellers you might not know
about. The directory of book related web sites seems reasonably
comprehensive and the uncluttered page content makes it a snap to explore.
I should also point out that while BookSearchEngine can help you find the
lowest price for a book, you should factor in the time it will take to
learn a new online store when considering a purchase. Personally I have
used the site as a resource to monitor the prices of the online bookshops I
frequent to assure myself that I'm getting a reasonable value. This
doesn't always mean the lowest price but it has alerted me when my typical
bookstores are overly expensive and has turned me on to a couple more
alternatives for my purchases.
Happy Reading,
Kelly
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