Surviving and Thriving - Getting Started

Fine Find Functions

By: Gary S. Kearney

Have you ever wished for a better way to find what you want on the Long Ridge site, particularly in those long lists of FORUM TRANSCRIPTS or in the INDEX TO THE LONG RIDGE WEBSITE ARTICLES. Remember that you can use the back button on your browser to return here if you go to look at those pages.

Since the earliest days of computing the key combination [Ctrl]+[F] (Press the F key on your keyboard while holding down the Ctrl key.) has been used to find things. The [Ctrl]+[F] trick works in most browsers as well as word processors and other programs.

In the figure below I've started up a search by clicking [Edit] on the menu bar then [Find on this page ... Ctrl+F], and IE reminds me that I could get exactly the same result by just pressing [Ctrl]+[F]. This brings up the dialog box where I enter Wellington to find the forums where Janet Wellington has been a guest.

Fine Find

If the first result is not the one you want, you can continue searching by clicking again on the [Find Next] button or [Alt]+[F]. This will allow to you to rapidly move through a list.

There's an advanced Google® trick you can use to limit your search to the Long Ridge site as well. You enter "site:www.longridgewritersgroup.com" Without the quotes, please.) into the search field followed by the term that you are looking for as shown in the illustration below.

Google search

There's a couple more Google® tricks. Sometimes it helps to put a phrase in quotes like: "phrase in quotes" rather than as individual words, and you can also use the Advanced Search Preferences dialog to define your search to an even greater detail.

The tricks that work for Google® work on many other search sites as well, and don't forget that you can use [Ctrl]+[F] on the lists or pages that they bring up as well.

Unfortunately your results may vary. If you don't find what you want try different keywords or phrases. It's not an exact science, but using these tips should make it a bit more likely that you'll find what you're looking for on the Long Ridge Writers Group site as well as other sites.

Happy hunting! --gskearney

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LongRidge Writers Group
91 Long Ridge Road, West Redding, Connecticut 06896
Telephone: 1-800-624-1476 ~ Fax: 203-792-8406
Email: InformationService@LongRidgeWritersGroup.com

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Writing Craft - Boosting Creativity

Surviving and Thriving - Getting Started

Fine Find Functions

By: Gary S. Kearney