Subject: Free Pint No.54 - Search engine promotion, architecture and law review
Free Pint
"Helping 27,000 people use the Web for their work"
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
ISSN 1460-7239 20th January 2000 No.54
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Search Engine Promotion"
By William Hann
BOOKSHELF
"Law of the Supersearchers:
The Online Secrets of Top Legal Researchers"
Reviewed by Crystal Sharp
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Architecture: the science and art of finding it on the Web"
by Kaye Bagshaw and Dylan Evans
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CONFERENCE - E-COMMERCE FOR THE SMALLER BUSINESS - 14th March 2000
E-commerce offers businesses a major opportunity to reduce costs and
reach new customers. But the surrounding hype makes it difficult to
judge the true benefits. This conference will clearly explain all
the technical, commercial and legal issues. Speakers include Gerry
McGovern, Martin White, Danny Sullivan, William Hann, & Sheila Webber.
Price: 200 pounds exc VAT (175 pounds before January 31st). Contact
Maureen Heath, British Library, t: 020 7412 7470, e: maureen.heath@bl.uk
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EDITORIAL
We were delighted with the sheer amount of feedback we received after
our recent request for testimonials about Free Pint. As you know we
are currently talking to investors who will help us develop new
services for our community, and we want to let them know what our
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* "It has a unique voice that comes from being close to actual
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Thank you to all those who emailed us. The quantity and generosity of
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We realise though that there are a number of new services you would
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This will really complement the variety of subject-specific topics
we have covered in the newsletter, and it is totally free. Hundreds
of new items are added throughout the day, so visit now to see
today's headlines:
http://www.freepint.co.uk/news
Today's edition of Free Pint covers some extremely popular topics.
After many requests from readers, we've written about how to promote
your Web site effectively to search engines. There is a fantastic
in-depth review of architecture resources on the Web, as well as
a book review continuing the legal theme from the last issue.
We round up with the latest happenings at the Free Pint Bar, and if
you haven't visited yet then you're really missing out on a great
resource. You can post your tricky research questions, and responses
are usually forthcoming almost immediately. You don't have to
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along today to .
If you enjoy this edition of Free Pint then please pass it on to
someone else, and if you have any feedback then please don't hesitate
to get in touch.
Kind regards,
William
William Hann BSc MIInfSc
Founder and Managing Editor, Free Pint
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Networks, Oracle and BBC Parliament.
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TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Search Engine Promotion"
By William Hann
Preamble
--------
Through my previous company we provided a search engine promotion
service. One day I received a telephone call from a client, a
Webmaster for a large corporation, who was virtually in tears. It
transpired that one of his colleagues had performed a search on the
Web for their company name and had not located it in the top ten
results. This person had then emailed the top boss complaining about
this "appalling lack of international visibility", and unbelievably
copied it to every member of the department and senior management.
This is a hot topic. There is always discussion about it at the Free
Pint Bar, and we still receive many letters each week asking us for
an article on how to promote your site to search engines. Therefore
I'm going to cover this wide-ranging and unscientific topic here.
I am going to cover how best to prepare your site, pitfalls to avoid,
how to actually submit, and offer some further reading. Please note
that I don't have room to talk about objectives settings, defining
your audience, and the many other (more effective?) ways of
advertising your site both online and offline.
Parlance
--------
When you perform a search in a search engine, you've probably
gathered that you're not actually searching the Web - you're
searching an index. This index is created by search engine "spiders"
or "bots" which crawl the Web looking for pages to index. When they
find a page, they index the words on it and follow links to more
pages, either on the same site or externally. Some engines index
all the words and pages, some only crawl to a certain depth.
When you've performed your search, the engine then has to decide in
what order to display the results. Although search engines are
reluctant to publish their proprietary algorithms for ranking
results, they are generally dependent on a handful of factors such
as: whether keywords appear near the top of a page, how close words
are to each other, and how often a word appears. Some engines even
work out how rare keywords are, or how popular a page is as measured
by how many other pages have a link to it (e.g. Excite).
Therefore, as long as a search engine is aware of your site (either
by crawling or by notification from you) and you use the right words
then you're going to come top of the results list. Simple. Er ...
Preparation
-----------
You've guessed it, it's not that simple. There are a number of things
you should do to ensure you have the best chance of being listed
favourably.
You firstly need to ensure that the pages on your site have all the
necessary HTML elements. These appear in the section, and the
most important is a descriptive title appearing in the tag.
Make sure this is keyword-rich and includes your company/organisation
name and what you do. Remember that this is what appears in the title
bar of the browser, as well as the description when someone bookmarks
the site.
Then there are the <META> tags. Not all search engines index these
tags (such as Excite and Lycos), but most give some emphasis to them.
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="...">
In the above tag you would replace the three dots with a list of
comma separated keywords which you believe people may search for to
locate your site. You can list up to a thousand characters, but be
careful not to repeat the same word too many times. This is known
as "spamming" and some engines will penalize you for doing this.
Infoseek for instance allows repetition of a word up to seven
times, after which the entire keyword list is disregarded.
The keywords won't be seen by searchers and so include common
spelling errors and word variants. For instance, my previous company
was called "Willco" but searchers often entered "Wilco" and so I
included this incorrect version as a keyword. Note also that you can
have different keywords on every page of your site. For instance, we
produce a new list of keywords for each edition of the Free Pint
newsletter in the Web site archive before promoting that specific
page to the engines.
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="...">
This tag should contain a description of the site or page, with up to
two hundred characters. This will be used by some engines as the
summary in search results, and so make it readable and informative.
Also, ensure that you have a keyword-rich first paragraph on your
entry page. Some engines give prominence to words appearing near the
top of a page, and so if you only have a large graphic on your
homepage then it would be best to add some text around this.
If you find a site is being listed above yours in a search engine
then analyse their keywords and description by viewing the HTML
source. In Internet Explorer 5 choose "View, Source" and in
Netscape 4 choose "View, Page Source".
Pitfalls
--------
If you have a "gateway page" (also known as "doorways" or "bridge
pages") which redirects visitors automatically to another page then
beware that a number of search engines no longer index pages with
fast refresh times. Heed the advice from the W3C: "Authors should not
use this technique to forward users to different pages, as this takes
the page inaccessible to some users. Instead, automatic page
forwarding should be done using server-side redirects."
<http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/global.html#h-7.4.4>
Some search engines (again including Excite and Lycos) can't
understand client-side image maps. These are processed in the browser
and use the <MAP> and <AREA> tags. Make sure you have an alternative
text menu (perhaps in small text under the imagemap), or consider
server-side alternatives. Find out more from the W3C
<http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/objects.html#h-13.6>.
Ensure that all images have the "ALT" attribute in the <IMG> tag.
This should be the case anyway to help your visitors who are browsing
with the images turned off, or for the visually impaired. Check your
site's accessibility by people with disabilities by using
Bobby <http://www.cast.org/bobby/>.
If your site utilises frames then beware. Individual frames are
indexed as standalone pages, and a searcher may therefore enter your
site directly to that frame and not see the navigation or menu frame.
For this reason, every page of your site should ideally have an easy
way for the person to return to the main <FRAMESET> page to reload
the required frames layout. On this note, make sure you
include <META> tags on the <FRAMESET> page.
If you don't want certain pages indexed then create a "robots.txt" or
use the Robots <META> tag. More information can be found at
<http://info.webcrawler.com/mak/projects/robots/exclusion.html>.
Most search engines ignore common or "stop" words when indexing, such
as 'of', 'the', 'with' and 'if'. This has caused problems for me in
the past when we offered "Internet training in the UK" and the
words 'Internet', 'in', 'the' and 'UK' were all ignored by some search
engines. This was rectified over time as search engine developers
realised that words like "Internet" and "UK" were actually quite
important search terms, even though they are very common.
Remember also, search engines have great difficulty indexing pages
which are created dynamically from a database or hidden in a password
protected section of your site. Is there a way that you can produce
static representations of these pages for submission?
Finally, it is always best to check your site's HTML, spelling, broken
links and load times. Ask NetMechanic <http://www.netmechanic.com/>
to analyse the pages on your site, and get it to email you when
the results are ready.
Promotion
---------
You need to decide which search engines and directories you want to
be listed in. If you have access to your server logs you should be
able to get an idea of which search engines are already sending
people your way (referer log), and are indexing your site (access
log). Don't forget the announcement services and awards sites
(sometimes called "cool sites" or "best of the Web"). Plenty can
be found in Yahoo!.
Before you start you may want to have at hand the extra information
which some engines require. For most you'll need to have a contact
name, email address and the URL of the page you're submitting. You
may also need a list of keywords, and two descriptions; some engines
require a description of 15 words, others allow up to 25 words. Think
about these before you go online.
Now that you're ready, visit the engine and look for a link on the
homepage similar to "Add URL" (Excite), "Register URL" (Northern
Light) or less elusive ones like "Add Your Site to Lycos".
AltaVista's is hidden away under "Help" and "Add/Remove a URL".
I would suggest that when you find the submission page, bookmark it
so that you can return quickly next time. Also, be sure to read the
help pages about getting the most out of that particular engine.
You don't have to submit all the pages on your site, but it would be
best to register the main sections so that the spider has a chance
of crawling effectively. If you're in Europe then perform this
process before midday - engines usually verify that a page actually
exists before giving you confirmation of the submission, and this
can take a while if you submit during peak times.
Submitting your site to directories like Yahoo! is more complicated
than with the pure engines like AltaVista and HotBot. Firstly you
need to navigate to the category you want your site to be listed
in. Then click on something similar to "Suggest a Site" in Yahoo!,
the "Submit" button in Looksmart, or the "Submit Your Site to Snap"
link at the bottom of a Snap category page. Human editors will
then decide whether to list your site in that category,
Yahoo! is famously difficult to get listed in. For the best chance
of success, make sure you choose your category carefully (for
instance, if it is a commercial site then make sure it comes under
"Business & Economy") and make sure you read all the guidance
notes. You can also suggest another category for your listing
during the submission process.
Postoperative
-------------
Now that submission is complete, you have to wait until the engines
index you. This will take anywhere from a day or two, through to a
few weeks or even more. You should resubmit periodically, and
remember regional variations. For instance, AltaVista.com and
AltaVista.co.uk don't seem to be talking to each other yet.
Watch out for redesigns: AltaVista's recent facelift resulted in many
Free Pint reader's sites not being listed any more. Check your
positioning every few weeks, tweak your keywords, and change your
content regularly. This will generally ensure a pertinent listing.
Remember that engines will automatically return to your page to
re-index it after a set time. I once heard that if a spider returns
and your pages *haven't* changed, then it *increases* the time
before it's next visit. If the pages *have* changed then the time
is *decreased*. This is reason enough to keep your pages up-to-date.
Also, if you delete a page on your site and want it removed from a
search engine, then simply resubmit that page and the engine will
remove it if the page produces an "Error 404 - File not found".
If you're too busy for all of this then there are many companies on
the Web which offer to analyse your site's suitability for submission,
submit your site to a number of search engines, and perhaps even
monitor on-going positioning of certain keywords. These include
Submit It! <http://submitit.bcentral.com/> now part of Microsoft's
"bCentral" service, and WorldSubmit <http://www.worldsubmit.com/>.
They offer to automatically submit your site to hundreds of engines.
However, closer examination of WorldSubmit's submission list reveals
that this includes "Pets Food Net", "My Florist", and
"World of Horses". There are also a number of regional directories
which will only include your site if you are in that country.
I have never been a great believer in automated services, but one
quick and free service we use regularly is SavvySearch's SavvySubmit
<http://www.savvysearch.com/submit> which will submit your URL to 16
of the top engines instantly. There are many other free services like
this, and also many companies which will produce a tailored report on
your site, and manually submit to a number of engines.
Postamble (the opposite of Preamble)
---------
Many people lose a lot of sleep over search engine placement.
Personally I believe there are many more effective ways of promoting
yourself to a targeted audience. If you keep your site up to date and
add fresh content, as well as regularly updating your keywords and
submitting to search engines periodically, then you won't need to
worry about search engine placement.
If you have any other tips on site promotion then please do share
them with me at the Free Pint Bar <http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar>.
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William Hann is the founder and Managing Director of Free Pint Limited.
He has a strong background in online information, including a degree in
information science and experience of product development at a number
of online information providers (including the Financial Times, DIALOG
and News International). He ran an information consultancy for a number
of years, and can be contacted by email to <william@freepint.co.uk>.
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Related Free Pint links:
* Previous articles in Free Pint include "Web Site Promotion Ideas",
"Web Site Marketing - How do they do that?" and "12 Offline Ways of
Promoting Your URL". Book reviews including "Poor Richard's Internet
Marketing and Promotions" and "Advertising on the Internet".
Full list available in the Free Pint Guide to Webmaster Resources at
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/guide/html/sgp15.html>.
* Various discussions at the Free Pint Bar. Search at
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/search> for the phrases "search
facilities on sites", "search engine promotion", "web site
promotion" and "search engine ranking".
* Further background and detail (including individual search engine
requirements) in the "Search Engine Submission Tips" section of
Search Engine Watch <http://www.searchenginewatch.com/>.
* Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/200100.htm#tips>
* This article may be reproduced freely with suitable attribution to
Free Pint, including the URL <http://www.freepint.co.uk/>.
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FREE PINT BOOKSHELF
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf
"Law of the Supersearchers:
The Online Secrets of Top Legal Researchers"
Reviewed by Crystal Sharp
The need for urgent, accurate, comprehensive and reliable information
is of utmost importance in the legal profession, probably more so
than in any other discipline. Law of the Supersearchers by
T.R. Halvorson, the most recent book in the Supersearcher series, is
about finding information for the legal profession. The author is a
practicing attorney and legal researcher. As with the other books in
the series, this one presents valuable insights through probing
interviews with expert researchers on their work, thought processes,
and search strategies. The interviewees are mostly American but
diverse in their work situations. The Supersearcher series is
directed at professionals who have at least a fundamental grasp of the
principles of information organization and retrieval.
Online searching is a complex art at best. Legal searchers must have
a wide knowledge base, be creative thinkers and work in fast-paced
and demanding environments. As intermediaries, professional
researchers have to be able to determine what their clients really
need (an art in itself, since requests are often not well
articulated) and to find effective and efficient strategies to
satisfy that need. Searching is an iterative process, strategies
differ widely by situation, cost, and researcher. One common
qualification all the expert researchers have is a thorough knowledge
of their reference sources, and commercial legal database content and
search syntax. Halvorson's exploration of each researcher's personal
strategies, sources, and methods is sensitively conducted and topics
are expanded to elicit interesting viewpoints, knowledge,
or experiences.
Opinions about the Internet vary widely, from "it's making our lives
more complicated, but more fun too", to "I might use it (over
commercial sources) when I am concerned about cost, although it
actually takes longer to do things using the Internet", to "I'm not
in a mind set where I would begin on the Internet.." Although all
interviewees voiced concern about the quality, comprehensiveness,
reliability and searchability of information on the Internet, they
all use it. In fact, in certain cases, failure to use Internet
research could construe incompetence! Legal researchers extensively
use sites with established authority and often start their research
using Internet subject directories and catalogues. Generally, the
Internet is used to search for very current news, government
information - a lot of which is not available any other way, and for
casual information found on personal or company websites and
listserver discussions.
Legal research involves not just research of the law, but includes
nearly all other disciplines like medicine, science, technology,
public opinion, and business, for litigation support and transaction
law. A classified index to online resources is presented in an
appendix at the back of the book, which contains references to a
variety of resources and includes some international resources.
Legal terminology and jargon are scattered throughout the
conversations - quite a distraction to those not familiar with them.
However, a second appendix contains an excellent glossary of terms.
While all who engage in the intricacies of locating information
online would find this an interesting read, it would be most useful
for those specializing in American and Canadian legal research. The
book is especially recommended to lawyers to help define and satisfy
their research needs.
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Crystal Sharp is co-director of CD Sharp Information Systems, a
business research and consulting company in London, Ontario, Canada.
She specializes in business research, especially Canadian business
research, and technology's influence on business and social practices.
She has three main research interests: social, business, and economic
issues concerning women, new models of operation and management of
libraries, and the effect of information technology on economic
development. She can be reached at crystal@cdsharp.com
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Related Free Pint links:
* Read this book review online at the Free Pint Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf/superlaw.htm>
* Bookshelf review of "Researching the legal web" in Free Pint No.53
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf/legalweb.htm>
* If you know of a good business web-related book we should review,
please send details to <bookshelf@freepint.co.uk>
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FEATURE ARTICLE
"Architecture: the science and art of finding it on the Web"
by Kaye Bagshaw and Dylan Evans
Architecture covers a mind-boggling variety of subject areas; these
straddle both the arts and sciences. It is also a business and one in
which a savvy approach to information can make a real difference. For
the information professional this makes it a very rewarding area in
which to work. One minute you may be asked to source some attractive
glossies of the latest Richard Rogers building and the next (or
realistically, the same minute!) which clauses are affected by the
latest amendment to the JCT 98 building contract.
Forty five percent of architectural practices consist of less than 5
people and just do not have the resources to invest in subscription
services and CD-ROMs etc. The increasing availability of the Web in
architects' offices means that it is becoming a useful addition to
traditional sources of information.
In our article we're going to focus on websites which are of use to
architects and to information professionals who work in the
architecture and construction sectors. All the websites are freely
available, although some of them have members only or subscribers only
sections. We have divided them up as follows:
1. Gateways
2. Professional
3. Government & Official sites
4. Procurement & Funding
5. Other organisations
6. Product Information
7. Standards & Testing
8. On-line Journals
9. History, General Interest & Fun
1. Gateways
There are many sites which act as gateways to other architecture
sites. One of the best ones in this area is ADAM,
<http://www.adam.ac.uk>, which is a quality controlled database of
over 2500 links to art, design, architecture and media web resources,
all of which have been selected and catalogued by professional
librarians. Just typing in the search term architecture brings up
over 400 hits and all those we tried were relevant, with no broken
links.
Archiseek <http://www.archiseek.com/> aims to contain the best online
directory of architecture links available. Among others it has links
to sites about current and past architects, to competitions and
awards, and even a glossary of architectural terms.
The Construction Industry Computing Association (CICA)
<http://www.cica.org.uk/> has created a set of links to
construction-resources on the net.
Cyburbia (formerly called PAIRC - The Planning and Architecture
Internet Resource Center) <http://www.cyburbia.org/> is a directory of
Internet resources relevant to architecture and the built environment
currently comprising 7735 links. It also covers subject related
mailing lists and Usenet newsgroups.
RUDI, the Resource for Urban Design Information
<http://rudi.herts.ac.uk/> describes itself as a multimedia Internet
resource for teaching, research and professional activity in urban
design and its related disciplines. Highlights include case studies of
good practice, design guides, bibliographies and access to online
journals.
The Library at Cardiff University has constructed a guide to
architecture resources on the web at
<http://www.cf.ac.uk/uwcc/infos/information/subject/architecture/>,
with links ranging from jobs, to the environment.
2. Professional bodies
The statutory body for architects in the UK is the Architects
Registration Board (ARB). As the title architect is legally
protected, all practising architects who wish to describe themselves
as such must be registered with the ARB. ARB maintains the register
of the 29,000 UK architects. The ARB website is under construction,
but they can be contacted by e-mail on <info@arb.org.uk>
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is the main
professional body for architects. Its broad aim is the advancement of
architecture, and it provides products and services to its members and
to the public at large. The RIBA website <http://www.riba.net/>
describes its main activities and provides links to some of the
products and services provided by its related companies as well as to
many other architecture-related web-sites. Among the highlights are
access to the RIBA's database of members and registered architectural
practices, many with links to the individual or practice's own
website, access to information on architectural education, and a link
to the main database of the RIBA Library.
The Scottish equivalent of the RIBA is the Royal Incorporation of
Architects in Scotland (RIAS). Their website
<http://www.rias.org.uk/> gives information about the services offered
to RIAS members and advice to potential clients, together with a link
to a searchable database of RIAS members. Also, see the Royal
Institute of the Architects of Ireland <http://www.riai.ie/>.
The International Union of Architects (UIA) was founded in 1948 and
aims to unite architects worldwide. It is made up of 92 national
member sections. Its website, <http://www.uia-architectes.org>
includes links to the national member organisations and information
about the activities of the UIA. It also offers links to architecture
museums worldwide.
3. Government & Official sites
The front door for Government information is <http://www.open.gov.uk/>
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
<http://www.cabe.org.uk/> is a new body for promoting
excellence in British architecture. The web site is currently in its
infancy but is sure to grow as a resource.
The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions
<http://www.detr.gov.uk/> is a vast site and is surprisingly easy to
navigate and search. It is a valuable information resource for
architects and includes many full text documents. Useful highlights
include:
Full text of Rethinking Construction by the Construction Task Force
(Egan Report)
<http://www.construction.detr.gov.uk/cis/rethink/index.htm>
Information from the Building Regulations Division is included at
<http://www.construction.detr.gov.uk/br/index.htm> with a
comprehensive bibliography of The Building Act and its Regulations at
<http://www.construction.detr.gov.uk/br/br04.htm>
A database of Statements of National Planning Policy, including the
details of documents such as Planning Policy Guidance notes and
Regional Planning Guidance notes at
<http://detr.niss.ac.uk/planning/npp/>
Statistics on the UK construction industry from the Construction
Market Intelligence Division
<http://www.construction.detr.gov.uk/cmi/cmihome.htm>
Full text Acts of UK Parliament (from 1996) and Statutory Instruments
(from 1997) can be obtained from Her Majesty's Stationery Office
<http://www.hmso.gov.uk/> Welsh and Scottish, and Northern Irish Acts
and Statutory Instruments are available from
<http://www.wales-legislation.hmso.gov.uk/legislation/wales/w-
stat.htm>,
<http://www.scotland-legislation.hmso.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/s-
stat.htm> and <www.northernireland-legislation.hmso.gov.uk/>.
4. Procurement & funding
The National Lottery site from the Department for Culture, Media and
Sport <http://www.lottery.culture.gov.uk/> has an awards database to
search where lottery money has been spent and for what projects.
There is a useful section giving information on the roles of the
various distributing bodies.
The Official Journal Supplement S of the European Community is
available via TED (Tenders Electronic Daily)
<http://ted.eur-op.eu.int/ojs/html/index2.htm>, a database which
covers all tender opportunities published in the Official Journal.
Constructionline <http://www.constructionline.co.uk> is the UK's
largest register of qualified construction contractors and
consultants. An application to join the register can be filled in
online.
The HM Treasury site <http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk> includes full
text documents on procurement guidance and the Private Finance
Initiative for the construction industry
<http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/guid.html>.
The threshold values for the EC Procurement Rules are included
<http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/pub/html/docs/cup/ecpro/main.html>.
5. Other organisations
The following is a list of other organisations, all of which are worth
investigating.
The Building Research Establishment <http://www.bre.co.uk/>,
with a link to the government's energy efficiency initiative BRECSU at
<http://www.energy-efficiency.gov.uk/>.
The Construction Industry Board <http://www.ciboard.org.uk/>,
including information and guidance on the millennium bug.
ARCLIB, the Architecture Schools Librarians Group
<http://www.livjm.ac.uk/lea/misc/arcweb.htm>, ARLIS, the Art Libraries
Society <http://arlis.nal.vam.ac.uk/> and CIIG, the Construction
Industry Information Group <http://www.archinet.co.uk/ciig/> are all
organisations where information professional can exchange information
and ideas.
Movement for Innovation <http://www.m4i.org.uk/> arose from the Egan
Report, Rethinking Construction, and brings together representatives
from all sectors of the construction industry. It includes details of
demonstration projects and includes full text documents.
6. Product Information
The bulk of an architect's library comprises construction product
catalogues, reflecting the heavy use made of these resources. There
is a correspondingly wide range of directories available in paper,
microfiche and CD-ROM format. Increasingly, these are appearing on
the Internet. It will be some time yet before these can be relied on
to replace the other media.
ASC - Webindex <http://www.ascwebindex.com> covers over 7000 products
held in two databases, UK and international. Details can be accessed
by Uniclass and CI/SfB classification systems, and by alphabetical
lists of products and suppliers. Product information may be searched
by keyword. Links to manufacturer websites are included. Users can
download free Computer Aided Design data of standard design details in
AutoCAD and/or DXF format. ASC - Diskindex can also be downloaded
which provides access to the paper version ASC (Architects Standard
Catalogues). This also provides links to architecture, engineering and
surveying practices and an index of UK trade & professional
associations.
Building Information Warehouse <http://www.biw.co.uk> was launched in
1994 as part of a Government initiative to improve construction
industry use of the Internet. The site comprises a database of
products and companies with links to their websites. It also includes
the Construction Directory where contractors, architects and engineers
can register their details.
RIBA Product Selector Online <http://productselector.co.uk> is the
online version of the paper Product Selector, one of the standard
reference tools for sourcing products. The Internet version provides
a searchable index of UK manufacturers providing product and contact
details with links to suppliers' own websites. The database can be
searched by product group, company name and CI/SfB classification
code.
Leonardo UK Construction Materials & Technologies Index
<http://leonardouk.com> can be searched by company name and keyword.
A useful resource, though a search on stages and platforms led to a
company providing heated mirrors!
7. Standards and testing
Standards can be one of the most vital and expensive components of an
architect's library. There are now several sites available where the
status and currency of standards can be verified and ordered online.
The British Standards Institution site <http://www.bsi.org.uk>
contains information on over 35,000 current, draft and historic
British Standards. Users can register for free and view summary
details of standards giving details of cross references and
amendments.
The International Organisation for Standardisation <http://www.iso.ch>
is the worldwide federation of national standards bodies.
The National Standards Authority of Ireland is at <http://www.nsai.ie>
The British Board of Agrement <http://www.bbacerts.co.uk> is the body
in the UK responsible for the issue of European Technical Approvals
for construction products. It provides searchable indexes of BBA
approved products and installers.
8. On-line Journals
There are over 600 architectural journals, and looking at magazines is
one of the key ways in which architects keep up to date with news and
events. They also use magazine articles for inspiration and to keep
an eye on what their competitors are up to. A variety of journals are
available on the Web, and most of them offer links to architects,
products, and lists of other architectural resources. Some of them
are web-versions of conventionally published journals:
Architecture: <http://www.architecturemag.com>
Architectural Review: <http://www.arplus.com>
Architecture Australia: <http://www.archmedia.com.au/aa>
Metropolis: <http://www.metropolismag.com>
Urban Design Quarterly: <http://rudi.herts.ac.uk/ej/udq/udq.html>.
Others are only available on the web:
Design Architecture: <http://www.cornishproductions.com/index.html>
Architronic: <http://saed.kent.edu/Architronic>
Archinet: <http://www.archinet.co.uk/>, this popular site is a
magazine and gateway combined, and for example, has links to worldwide
architectural competitions.
9. History, General Interest & Fun!
We have listed below some of the websites, which offer information to
anyone interested in architecture.
The journalist and critic Hugh Pearman's website Gabion,
<http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/park/di25/cwa1.htm> has the full
text of many of his published articles, on subjects that range from
Durham Cathedral to the Stade de France, together with an exhibition
on Lottery funded building projects and extracts from his book
Contemporary World Architecture.
The Great Buildings site <http://www.greatbuildings.com/> allows you
to search by location, building or architect to locate images, potted
histories and other information.
Archinform <http://www.archinform.de/start.en.htm> started life as an
image database of interesting building projects from architecture
students, but has moved on to become a huge online-database, covering
over 8000 built and unrealized projects worldwide. It includes
bibliographic references.
About.com's guide to architecture
<http://architecture.about.com/arts/architecture/> provides links for
architecture related sites from Feng Shui to architecture clip art, as
well as news, discussion and Frank Lloyd Wright's definition of
architecture.
Find out all about the world's tallest buildings on the website of The
Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
<http://www.lehigh.edu/~inctbuh/inctbuh.html>.
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Kaye Bagshaw trained as a librarian after taking a French degree and
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