Googlepedia: The Ultimate Google Resource

Overview

The all-encompassing book about everything Google. Not only will you learn advanced search techniques, but you also will learn how to master Google’s web and software tools. It’s all inside!

Blogger-create your own personal blog

Gmail-Google’s web-based email service

Google Web Search-the most popular search on the Internet

Google AdSense-put profit-making ads on their own website

Google AdWords-buy keyword advertising on the Google site

Google Product Search-find hot deals without ever leaving your office chair

Google Book Search-search the full text of selected books

Google Calendar-a web-based scheduling and public calendar service

Google Checkout-pay for your Web goodies and collect payments from people who buy from you

Google Desktop-search documents and emails on your PC’s hard drive

Google Directory-the best sites on the Web,picked by Google’s editors

Google Docs & Spreadsheets-create and share web-based word processing and spreadsheet documents

Google Earth-a fun way to view 3D maps of any location on Earth

YouTube-view and share videos over the Web

Google Groups-a collection of user-created message forums

Google Image Search-search the web for pictures

Google Maps-maps, satellite images, and driving directions for any location

GOOGLE MAY BE THE INTERNET'S MOST POPULAR SEARCH SITE, BUT IT’S ALSO MORE THAN JUST SIMPLE WEB SEARCHES.

• Use Google to search for news headlines, scholarly articles, and the best prices on the Web

• Read and respond to blog postings and create your own blogs with Blogger

• View the latest viral videos with YouTube

• Create maps and driving directions with Google Maps

• Use Google’s free web-based email service Gmail

• Create your own custom Google Maps mashups–and put customized Google search on your own website

Michael Miller has written more than 75 nonfiction how-to books, including Que’s

Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Computer Basics, Tricks of the eBay Masters, and iPodpedia: The Ultimate iPod and iTunes Resource.

Category Internet Covers Google User Level Intermediate to Advanced

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Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
Google's goal is to "organize the world's information and make it accessible and useful." Michael Miller's Googlepedia does the exact same thing for Google itself, and for its astonishing collection of free tools.

Of course, Miller covers all you need to know about Google search. But that's only the beginning. There are chapters on literally dozens of free Google goodies. Picasa (organize your photos). Google Earth (find aerial photos of your house). Gmail (keep and search all your messages). Blogger, Google Video, Book Search, Google Base...you name it.

There are tips galore. When you'll get better results by using the Google Directory instead of search. How to view Google News on your cellphone. How to hack Google's IM service to talk to everyone else's. Even how to use Google to score six free months of anti-virus protection. Bill Camarda, from the October 2006 Read Only

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Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780789736390
Publisher: Que
Publication date: 7/24/2006
Pages: 782
Product dimensions: 7.00 (w) x 9.00 (h) x 1.90 (d)

Related Subjects

Meet the Author

Michael Miller has written more than 80 nonfiction how-to books over the past twenty years, including Que’s Photopedia: The Ultimate Digital Photography Resource, iPodpedia: The Ultimate iPod and iTunes Resource, Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Computer Basics, YouTube 4 You, and YouTube for Business. His 1999 book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Online Search Secrets, was one of the first books to cover Google (then in beta testing). Mr. Miller has established a reputation for clearly explaining technical topics to non-technical readers, and for offering useful real-world advice about complicated topics. More information can be found at the author’s website, located at www.molehillgroup.com.

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Read an Excerpt

IntroductionIntroduction

In this chapter

What's in This Book

Who Can Use This Book
How to Use This Book
There's More Online...
Get Ready to Google!

I use Google every day. I've been using it every day since it first launched—before it launched, actually, when it still had the word "beta" on its home page. I use Google because it's easy to use, and because it delivers quality results.

I'm not unusual, of course. Google is the most-used search site on the Web, and most people choose it for the same reason I do—ease-of-use and effectiveness. That's not news.

What is news, for a lot of users, anyway, is that Google is more than just simple search. Most users don't know that they can fine-tune their search in a number of interesting ways, or that they can use Google to find pictures and news articles and compact discs, or that they can use the Google search box to perform mathematical calculations and conversions, or that Google can function as a spell checker or dictionary.

It's also news to most users that Google offers a variety of products and services that have little or nothing to do with web search. Google runs the largest blogging community on the Web, hosts a must-see video-sharing community, distributes a top-notch picture-editing program, and provides free web-based email services. You might not get all this from looking at Google's attractively austere search page, but it's there, nonetheless.

All these "hidden" features are what makes Google so interesting, at least to me, and are why I wrote this book. I wanted to show other users all thecool and useful stuff I've discovered in the Google family of sites, and to share some of the tips and tricks I've developed over the years for getting the most out of Google's various products and services.

That's what Googlepedia is—a guide to everything that Google has to offer. It's not just web search (although I cover that, in much depth); Googlepedia also covers Gmail and Google Maps and Picasa and every other application and service that has come out of Google's headquarters—as well as services that Google acquired along the way, such as Blogger and YouTube. There's plenty of how-to information, of course, but also a lot of tricks and advice that even the most experienced user will appreciate.

I should note, however, that although I know a lot about what Google does and how it works, I'm not a Google insider. I don't work for Google, and had no official contact with Google while writing this book. That means I don't always take the company line; I'll tell you, as honestly as possible, when Google gets it right, when Google needs improvement, and when Google just plain sucks. (The company isn't perfect.) I'm not obligated to put on a positive face, which means you'll get the straight poop, good or bad.What's in This Book

Google isn't just web search; the company offers a lot of different products and services, all of which I discuss somewhere in this book. Because of everything that Google does, this is a long book—46 chapters in all, organized into 10 major sections:

Part I: Getting to Know Google provides an inside look at Google (the company and the technology), and then shows you how to use Google's various tools to personalize your computing and web browsing experience.
Part II: Searching with Google is all about what Google does best—search for information. You'll learn the best ways to use Google's famous web search, as well as when to use Google's other more- targeted search services.
Part III: Communicating with Google shows you why Google isn't just about search; we'll discuss emailing with Gmail, instant messaging with Google Talk, blogging with Blogger, and virtual chatting with Lively.
Part IV: Working with Google Applications presents Google's web-based applications, including Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, Google Presentations, Google Calendar, and Google Reader.
Part V: Viewing Images and Videos is all about pictures and videos, courtesy of Google Images and the uber-popular YouTube video- sharing site.
Part VI: Working with Google Maps

is all about Google Maps, Google Earth, and creating your own Google Maps mashups.
Part VII: Using Other Google Services discusses a wide variety of useful and information-rich services, including Google News, Google Finance, Google Health, Google Checkout, and Google Sites.
Part VIII: Using Google on the Go is all about using Google on your mobile phone—including the Apple iPhone and the upcoming Android Google phone.
Part IX: Making Money with Google shows you how to optimize your website for Google search, advertise your site with Google AdWords, and put advertising on your site with Google AdSense.
Part X: Google for Web Developers discusses Google's tools for developers and businesses, including how to add Google to your website, analyze your site traffic, develop applications with Google's APIs and developer tools, create Google Gadgets, create OpenSocial gadgets, and take your web-based applications offline with Google Gears.

There are also two appendixes that present useful reference information, and a third that covers one of Google's most exciting new applications. Appendix A is the Google Site Directory (a complete listing of URLs for all of Google's websites), while Appendix B lists Google's advanced search operators. Handy references, both of them. And Appendix C covers Chrome, Google's very own web browser, the one that has everyone in the industry talking.

If you're wondering what's new in this third edition, the answer is "a lot." That's because the Googleverse is constantly changing; not a week goes by without some new feature being added or some old function being improved upon. To name just a few examples of new features covered in this edition that weren't around when the last edition was published, one needs to look no further than Google Knol, Google Health, Google Presentations, Google Sky, Google Sites, Google's iPhone applications, the Google phone, Lively, the OpenSocial API, and the Chrome web browser. And that's just the new stuff from Google; I've updated all the coverage in the book to reflect Google's current status quo and beefed up the coverage of Google's developer's tools.Who Can Use This Book

Googlepedia can be used by any level of user; you don't have to be a search expert or application developer to find something of value within these pages. That said, I think this book has particular appeal to more experienced or interested users, as a lot of advanced features are presented. Still, even if you've never used Google (or Gmail or Google Maps or whatever) before, you'll find a lot of useful information here.How to Use This Book

I hope that this book is easy enough to read that you don't need instructions. That said, there are a few elements that bear explaining.

First, there are several special elements in this book, presented in what we in the publishing business call "margin notes." There are different types of margin notes for different types of information, as you see here.

***
Note - This is a note that presents information of interest, even if it isn't wholly relevant to the discussion in the main text.
***

***
Tip - This is a tip that might prove to be useful for whatever it is you're in the process of doing.
***

***
Caution - This is a caution that something you might accidentally do might have undesirable results.
***

In most chapters, you'll also find some personal commentary, presented in the form of a sidebar. These sections are meant to be read separately, as they exist "outside" the main text. And remember—these sidebars are my opinions only, so feel free to agree or disagree as you like.

Obviously, there are lots of web page addresses in the book, like this one: http://www.google.com. When you see one of these addresses (also known as a URL), you can go to that web page by entering the URL into the address box in your web browser. I've made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the Web addresses presented here, but given the ever-changing nature of the web, don't be surprised if you run across an address or two that's changed. I apologize in advance.

The other thing you'll find in various places throughout this book is HTML code. A snippet of code might look like this:

When part of the code is italics (such as the URL in the previous example), this means that you need to replace the italicized code with your own individual information. In the previous example, you would replace URL with the full URL and filename of an image file you want to include in your auction template.

If you're a web page developer, you'll know what to do with this code. If you're not, you might want to skip over those sections. (You don't have to be a developer to use Google, of course.)There's More Online...

I urge you to move outside the Google universe from time to time and visit my personal website, located at http://www.molehillgroup.com. Here you'll find more information on this book and other books I've written—including an errata page for this book, in the inevitable event that an error or two creeps into this text. (Hey, nobody's perfect!)

While you're on the Web, check out Googlepedia: The Blog (googlepedia. blogspot.com). This is my own blog devoted to the topic of Google and Googlepedia. I post about the latest developments in the Googleverse, as well as updates to this book. Visit it regularly.

And if you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me directly at googlepedia@molehillgroup.com. I can't guarantee that I'll respond to every email, but I will guarantee I'll read them all.Get Ready to Google!

With all these preliminaries out of the way, it's now time to get started. Although I recommend reading the book in consecutive order, that isn't completely necessary, as each part of Google exists independently of the other parts; just as it's okay to skip around through Google's various products and services, it's also okay to skip around through the various chapters in this book.

So get ready to turn the page and learn more about using the Google family of sites. I know you'll discover features you haven't noticed before, and hopefully become a more effective searcher.

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1	Inside Google	9
2	Searching the Web	23
3	Searching the Google directory	55
4	Searching for people and phone numbers	69
5	Searching for financial information	79
6	Searching blogs and blog postings	97
7	Searching for scholarly information	117
8	Searching for university, technical, and government information	131
9	Searching for words and definitions	139
10	Searching for other special information	147
11	Customizing Google and the Google home page	161
12	Making Google safe for kids	175
13	Using Google in other languages	181
14	Using Google as a calculator and converter	195
15	Keeping updated with Google alerts	211
16	Searching for bargains with Froogle and Google catalogs	221
17	Buying and selling - online and locally - with Google base	245
18	Using Google maps	267
19	Using Google map mashups	295
20	Using Google Earth	317
21	Sending and receiving Email with Gmail	351
22	Instant messaging with Google talk and Gmail chat	387
23	Using blogger	401
24	Searching Google images	435
25	Downloading video entertainment from Google video	443
26	Using Google answers	465
27	Using Google book search	475
28	Using Google groups	489
29	Using Google news	507
30	Using Google mobile services	519
31	Using the Google toolbar	531
32	Using Google desktop	547
33	Using Google calendar	567
34	Using Picasa	585
35	Using Google pack	607
36	Submitting your site - and increasing your ranking	619
37	Making money with Google AdSense and AdWords	639
38	Using Google within your organization	667
39	Adding Google to your Website	675
40	Creating custom search applications	683
41	Creating Google map mashups	691
42	Exploring Google labs	703
43	Beyond search : what's next for Google	717
App. A	Google's site directory	727
App. B	Google's country-specific sites	731
App. C	Google's advanced search operators	737

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Preface

Introduction

In this chapter

What's in This Book

Who Can Use This Book
How to Use This Book
There's More Online...
Get Ready to Google!

I use Google every day. I've been using it every day since it first launched—before it launched, actually, when it still had the word "beta" on its home page. I use Google because it's easy to use, and because it delivers quality results.

I'm not unusual, of course. Google is the most-used search site on the Web, and most people choose it for the same reason I do—ease-of-use and effectiveness. That's not news.

What is news, for a lot of users, anyway, is that Google is more than just simple search. Most users don't know that they can fine-tune their search in a number of interesting ways, or that they can use Google to find pictures and news articles and compact discs, or that they can use the Google search box to perform mathematical calculations and conversions, or that Google can function as a spell checker or dictionary.

It's also news to most users that Google offers a variety of products and services that have little or nothing to do with web search. Google runs the largest blogging community on the Web, hosts a must-see video-sharing community, distributes a top-notch picture-editing program, and provides free web-based email services. You might not get all this from looking at Google's attractively austere search page, but it's there, nonetheless.

All these "hidden" features are what makes Google so interesting, at least to me, and are why I wrote this book. I wanted to show other users all the cool and useful stuff I've discovered in the Google family of sites, and to share some of the tips and tricks I've developed over the years for getting the most out of Google's various products and services.

That's what Googlepedia is—a guide to everything that Google has to offer. It's not just web search (although I cover that, in much depth); Googlepedia also covers Gmail and Google Maps and Picasa and every other application and service that has come out of Google's headquarters—as well as services that Google acquired along the way, such as Blogger and YouTube. There's plenty of how-to information, of course, but also a lot of tricks and advice that even the most experienced user will appreciate.

I should note, however, that although I know a lot about what Google does and how it works, I'm not a Google insider. I don't work for Google, and had no official contact with Google while writing this book. That means I don't always take the company line; I'll tell you, as honestly as possible, when Google gets it right, when Google needs improvement, and when Google just plain sucks. (The company isn't perfect.) I'm not obligated to put on a positive face, which means you'll get the straight poop, good or bad.

What's in This Book

Google isn't just web search; the company offers a lot of different products and services, all of which I discuss somewhere in this book. Because of everything that Google does, this is a long book—46 chapters in all, organized into 10 major sections:

Part I: Getting to Know Google provides an inside look at Google (the company and the technology), and then shows you how to use Google's various tools to personalize your computing and web browsing experience.
Part II: Searching with Google is all about what Google does best—search for information. You'll learn the best ways to use Google's famous web search, as well as when to use Google's other more- targeted search services.
Part III: Communicating with Google shows you why Google isn't just about search; we'll discuss emailing with Gmail, instant messaging with Google Talk, blogging with Blogger, and virtual chatting with Lively.
Part IV: Working with Google Applications presents Google's web-based applications, including Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, Google Presentations, Google Calendar, and Google Reader.
Part V: Viewing Images and Videos is all about pictures and videos, courtesy of Google Images and the uber-popular YouTube video- sharing site.
Part VI: Working with Google Maps is all about Google Maps, Google Earth, and creating your own Google Maps mashups.
Part VII: Using Other Google Services discusses a wide variety of useful and information-rich services, including Google News, Google Finance, Google Health, Google Checkout, and Google Sites.
Part VIII: Using Google on the Go is all about using Google on your mobile phone—including the Apple iPhone and the upcoming Android Google phone.
Part IX: Making Money with Google shows you how to optimize your website for Google search, advertise your site with Google AdWords, and put advertising on your site with Google AdSense.
Part X: Google for Web Developers discusses Google's tools for developers and businesses, including how to add Google to your website, analyze your site traffic, develop applications with Google's APIs and developer tools, create Google Gadgets, create OpenSocial gadgets, and take your web-based applications offline with Google Gears.

There are also two appendixes that present useful reference information, and a third that covers one of Google's most exciting new applications. Appendix A is the Google Site Directory (a complete listing of URLs for all of Google's websites), while Appendix B lists Google's advanced search operators. Handy references, both of them. And Appendix C covers Chrome, Google's very own web browser, the one that has everyone in the industry talking.

If you're wondering what's new in this third edition, the answer is "a lot." That's because the Googleverse is constantly changing; not a week goes by without some new feature being added or some old function being improved upon. To name just a few examples of new features covered in this edition that weren't around when the last edition was published, one needs to look no further than Google Knol, Google Health, Google Presentations, Google Sky, Google Sites, Google's iPhone applications, the Google phone, Lively, the OpenSocial API, and the Chrome web browser. And that's just the new stuff from Google; I've updated all the coverage in the book to reflect Google's current status quo and beefed up the coverage of Google's developer's tools.

Who Can Use This Book

Googlepedia can be used by any level of user; you don't have to be a search expert or application developer to find something of value within these pages. That said, I think this book has particular appeal to more experienced or interested users, as a lot of advanced features are presented. Still, even if you've never used Google (or Gmail or Google Maps or whatever) before, you'll find a lot of useful information here.

How to Use This Book

I hope that this book is easy enough to read that you don't need instructions. That said, there are a few elements that bear explaining.

First, there are several special elements in this book, presented in what we in the publishing business call "margin notes." There are different types of margin notes for different types of information, as you see here.

Note - This is a note that presents information of interest, even if it isn't wholly relevant to the discussion in the main text.

Tip - This is a tip that might prove to be useful for whatever it is you're in the process of doing.

Caution - This is a caution that something you might accidentally do might have undesirable results.

In most chapters, you'll also find some personal commentary, presented in the form of a sidebar. These sections are meant to be read separately, as they exist "outside" the main text. And remember—these sidebars are my opinions only, so feel free to agree or disagree as you like.

Obviously, there are lots of web page addresses in the book, like this one: http://www.google.com. When you see one of these addresses (also known as a URL), you can go to that web page by entering the URL into the address box in your web browser. I've made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the Web addresses presented here, but given the ever-changing nature of the web, don't be surprised if you run across an address or two that's changed. I apologize in advance.

The other thing you'll find in various places throughout this book is HTML code. A snippet of code might look like this:

This is a line of text.

When part of the code is italics (such as the URL in the previous example), this means that you need to replace the italicized code with your own individual information. In the previous example, you would replace URL with the full URL and filename of an image file you want to include in your auction template.

If you're a web page developer, you'll know what to do with this code. If you're not, you might want to skip over those sections. (You don't have to be a developer to use Google, of course.)

There's More Online...

I urge you to move outside the Google universe from time to time and visit my personal website, located at http://www.molehillgroup.com. Here you'll find more information on this book and other books I've written—including an errata page for this book, in the inevitable event that an error or two creeps into this text. (Hey, nobody's perfect!)

While you're on the Web, check out Googlepedia: The Blog (googlepedia. blogspot.com). This is my own blog devoted to the topic of Google and Googlepedia. I post about the latest developments in the Googleverse, as well as updates to this book. Visit it regularly.

And if you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me directly at googlepedia@molehillgroup.com. I can't guarantee that I'll respond to every email, but I will guarantee I'll read them all.

Get Ready to Google!

With all these preliminaries out of the way, it's now time to get started. Although I recommend reading the book in consecutive order, that isn't completely necessary, as each part of Google exists independently of the other parts; just as it's okay to skip around through Google's various products and services, it's also okay to skip around through the various chapters in this book.

So get ready to turn the page and learn more about using the Google family of sites. I know you'll discover features you haven't noticed before, and hopefully become a more effective searcher.

Read More Show Less

Introduction

en-cy-clo-pe-di-a noun A comprehensive reference
work containing articles on a wide range of subjects or
on numerous aspects of a particular field.

Goo-gle-pe-di-a noun A comprehensive reference
work containing articles on numerous aspects of
Google, the largest and most popular search engine
on the Web.

I use Google every day. I've been using it every day since it first launched—before it launched, actually, when it still had the word "beta" on its home page. I use Google because it's easy to use, and because it delivers quality results.

I'm not unusual, of course. Google is the most-used search site on the Web, and most people choose it for the same reason I do—ease-of-use and effectiveness. That's not news.

What is news, for a lot of users, anyway, is that Google is more than just simple search. Most users don't know that they can fine-tune their search in a number of interesting ways, or that they can use Google to find pictures and news articles and compact discs, or that they can use the Google search box to perform mathematical calculations and conversions, or that Google can function as a spell checker or dictionary.

It's also news to most users that Google offers a variety of products and services that have little or nothing to with web search. Google runs the largest blogging community on the Web, hosts an archive of Usenet news articles, distributes a top-notch picture-editing program, and provides free web-based email services. You might not get all this from looking at Google's attractively austere search page, but it's there, nonetheless.

All these "hidden" features are what makes Google so interesting, at least to me, and are why I wrote this book. I wanted to show other users all the cool and useful stuff I've discovered in the Google family of sites, and to share some of the tips and tricks I've developed over the years for getting the most out of Google's various products and services.

That's what Googlepedia is—a guide to everything that Google has to offer. It's not just web search (although I cover that, in much depth); Googlepedia also covers Gmail and Picasa and Blogger and every other application and service that has come out of Google's headquarters. There's plenty of how-to information, of course, but also a lot of tricks and advice that even the most experienced user will appreciate.

I should note, however, that while I know a lot about what Google does and how it works, I'm not a Google insider. I don't work for Google, and had no official contact with Google while writing this book. That means I don't always take the company line; I'll tell you, as honestly as possible, when Google gets it right, when Google needs improvement, and when Google just plain sucks. (The company isn't perfect.) I'm not obligated to put on a positive face, which means you'll get the straight poop, good or bad.

What's in This Book

Google isn't just web search; the company offers a lot of different products and services, all of which I discuss somewhere in this book. Because of everything that Google does, this is a long book—43 chapters in all, organized into 12 major sections:

Part I: Basic Searches provides an inside look at Google (the company and the technology), and then shows you the best ways to use Google web search and the Google Directory.
Part II: Specialized Searches discusses all the many narrow searches Google lets you conduct, from phone number lookup and blog searches to searches for scholarly information and word definitions.
Part III: Additional Search Features shows you how to customize Google and the Google Personalized Homepage, use SafeSearch content filtering, use Google in different languages, and use Google as a calculator and a converter (really!).
Part IV: Shopping and Product Searches guides you through using Froogle, Google Catalogs, and Google Base to search for bargains on the Web.
Part V: Maps and Directions is all about Google Maps, Google Earth, and finding the coolest and most useful Google Maps mashups online.
Part VI: Communications Services shows you why Google isn't just about search; we'll discuss emailing with Gmail, instant messaging with Google Talk, and blogging with Blogger.
Part VII: Multimedia is all about pictures and videos, courtesy of Google Images and Google Video.
Part VIII: Other Google Services discusses a variety of Google's search-related and non-search services, including Google Answers, Google Book Search, Google Groups, Google News, and Google Mobile Services.
Part IX: Google Software Tools presents Google's software and webbased applications, including Google Toolbar, Google Desktop, Google Calendar, Picasa, and Google Pack.
Part X: Google for Businesses discusses Google's business-oriented tools and services, including how to improve your site's PageRank, how to make money with Google AdWords and AdSense, and how to employ Google search in your organization.
Part XI: Google for Developers shows you how to add Google search to your website, create custom search applications, and produce your own Google Maps mashups.
Part XII: Into the Future shows you what new applications are percolating inside Google Labs, and discusses Google's future directions. There are also three appendixes that present useful reference information.

Appendix A is the Google Site Directory (a complete listing of URLs for all of Google's websites), Appendix B present's Google's country-specific sites, and Appendix C lists Google's advanced search operators. Handy references, all.

Who Can Use This Book

Googlepedia can be used by any level of user; you don't have to be a search expert or application developer to find something of value within these pages. That said, I think this book has particular appeal to more experienced or interested users, as a lot of advanced features are presented. Still, even if you've never used Google (or Gmail or Google Maps or whatever) before, you'll find a lot of useful information here.

How to Use This Book

I hope that this book is easy enough to read that you don't need instructions. That said, there are a few elements that bear explaining.

First, there are several special elements in this book, presented in what we in the publishing business call "margin notes." There are different types of margin notes for different types of information, as you see here:

NOTE

This is a note that presents information
of interest, even if it isn't wholly relevant
to the discussion in the main text.

TIP

This is a tip that might prove useful
for whatever it is you're in the process
of doing.

CAUTION

This is a caution that something you
might accidentally do might have
undesirable results.

In most chapters you'll also find some personal commentary, presented in the form of a sidebar. These sections are meant to be read separately, as they exist "outside" the main text. And remember—these sidebars are my opinions only, so feel free to agree or disagree as you like.

Obviously, there are lots of web page addresses in the book, like this one: www.google.com. When you see one of these addresses (also known as a URL), you can go to that web page by entering the URL into the address box in your web browser. I've made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the Web addresses presented here, but given the ever-changing nature of the web, don't be surprised if you run across an address or two that's changed. I apologize in advance.

The other thing you'll find in various places throughout this book is HTML code. A snippet of code might look like this:

<p>
This is a line of text.
</p>
&ltimg src="URL">

When part of the code is italics (such as the URL in the previous example), this means that you need to replace the italicized code with your own individual information. In the previous example, you would replace URL with the full URL and filename of an image file you want to include in your auction template.

If you're a web page developer, you'll know what to do with this code. If you're not, you might want to skip over those sections. (You don't have to be a developer to use Google, of course.)

Get Ready to Google!

With all these preliminaries out of the way, it's now time to get started. While I recommend reading the book in consecutive order, that isn't completely necessary, as each part of Google exists independently of the other parts; just as it's okay to skip around through Google's various products and services, it's also okay to skip around through the various chapters in this book.

In addition, I urge you to move outside the Google universe from time to time and visit my personal website, located at www.molehillgroup.com. Here you'll find more information on this book and other books I've written—including an errata page for this book, in the inevitable event that an error or two creeps into this text. (Hey, nobody's perfect!)

Finally, you need to know that writing about Google is like shooting at a moving target—the folks at the Googleplex are always adding new features and services. To that end, it's a given that there will be new information about Google available by the time you read these words. (That's life in cyberspace.) That's why I suggest you check out the e-Books online at www.quepublishing.com, where you'll find a number of short online books about Google's very latest features. These e-Books are the best way to supplement the information found in this book—and stay up-to-date on everything that Google has to offer.

So get ready to turn the page and learn more about using the Google family of sites. I know you'll discover features you haven't noticed before, and hopefully become a more effective searcher.

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Googlepedia: The Ultimate Google Resource

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Get Ready to Google!

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