Gate2net       					  	         
							
Ver 0.6r700 Beta ReadMe				       
Freeware version. Distribute freely.
August 19, 1999 - ConWare Multimedia                         	
											              
For more 
information contact  
ConWare Multimedia 
Konstantin Vassilev, CEO

gate2net@usa.com 
http//gate2net.hypermart.net

==========================================
Gate2net meta search engine
==========================================
 A single entry point to retrieve information from several search engines

When you seek information on Internet, you must browse 
several sites to find the right information. Gate2net does it for you. 
Gate2net provides a single entry point to retrieve information from 
several search engines. Using the Shockwave  technology the search 
results can be saved so that the  search query needs not be transmitted 
each and every time again.

Contents

Introduction
The Shockwave Interactive Technology
Installation
Searching Effectively
Features
History
Pricing and Availability 
About ConWare Multimedia


Introduction 								

Every day the World Wide Web grows by roughly a million 
electronic pages, adding to the hundreds of millions already on-line. With 
the volume of on-line information in cyberspace growing at a breakneck 
pace, more effective search tools are desperately needed. 

When you seek information on Internet, you must browse 
several sites to find the right information. gate2net provides a single entry 
point to retrieve information from several search engines at once. The 
search results can be saved and the search query needs not be 
transmitted each and every time again.

In the past, people have relied on search engines that hunt for 
specific words or terms. Since HTTP is stateless, information about the 
search is transmitted each and every time a request is made to the 
server.  The previous queries and keywords can not be saved. The most 
advanced search engines can be configured for precise search. This 
configuration state can not be saved and the process is repeated again 
with every new search after time.

The Shockwave Interactive Technology		        

Gate2net solves many of the pointed problems. Gate2net uses 
Shockwave a technology developed by Macromedia for "adding life to 
Internet". Shockwave technology allows creation of  the richest  and most 
interactive content on the Web, regardless of connection speed. 
Optimized for speed and ease of use, Shockwave 7 provides the fastest, 
most reliable interactive multimedia playback available.  Inclusion of the 
player in Microsoft Windows 98, MacOS 8.5, and AOL 4 gives 
Shockwave the greatest reach of any interactive multimedia playback 
technology. Shockwave player is installed on hundred millions of 
computers worldwide. 

Installation              							

You connect to gate2net.hypermart.net site through your 
browser. First a check is made for the latest Shockwave player. If it's 
needed it is downloaded to your computer. After it's installed, a little 
movie of about 100kB is downloaded from gate2net site and you can 
begin to search the net.

Searching Effectively						
		
There are 350 million sites out there, doubling every  four 
months... add to this the 'second' internet (the new  'university connection' 
net) and the wide and huge  usenet, and you already have a plethora of 
universes to  explore. 

Using combined searches using multiple engines increase the 
likelihood of finding the desired information by 4-5 times. 

If you want to get the information you need from the web, you 
should have your personal toolbar folder full of search tools. 

There's a lot of discussion about which search engine is the 
best. I'm not going into that, you need a lot of search engines, and some 
are better for several types of searches than others.  After some time you 
will soon find out which is the best engine to put under that home button, 
for the type of search you use most. 

The facts	
Each engine is different. Even engines sharing the same databases exert 	 
different algorithmic control on what they will present from the those common 
databases so as to differentiate themselves to their visitors. Each target 
different sectors of the searching public. 

Gate2net was designed to help you get the most out of the major search 
engines through the interface you feel most comfortable with and your web 
browser can handle. 


Features                                                           

Configuration

* Pressing *Config* button allows configuration of chosen 
search engine.
The states are saved when *Save* button is pressed. Opening 
the program again later reads the saved configuration parameters. 
Searching without configuation means searching with the latest saved 
configuration parameters.

Internet connectivity

* Pressing *Search* button checks for query and if it's not 
empty initiates http connection to the search engine selected.

* The state of the Internet connection is constantly checked  
during the search process. The result is shown visually with a rotating 
part on down left side of status menu.

* The process of downloading the search results is shown with 
a red progress bar on the status menu. The amount downloaded is 
expressed in percent as well as in kilobytes. The status is shown with 
plain English words too.

* Each search session can be aborted with *Abort* button.

Update function

* Check for new version available with *Update?* button. If a 
new version is availablean alert is displayed for clearing the Browser's 
cache. The program goes to another screen and *Update* button must be 
pressed to be able to update the movie to new version.


Current State Saving

*Save* button performs saving of intermediate states of menus, 
keywords and the current search session.

Search Session Saving/Clearing

*Slots* buttons. Initially there are 7 free slots. After *Search* button is 
pressed one of the free slots can be filled with the search results when 
*Save* button is pressed. Upon reloading the movie from 
http//gate2net.hypermart.net, if at least one time a *Save* button is pressed, 
these intermediate states are reloaded and the search can be continued 
further.

* Pressing any of the 7 Slots buttons invoked the previously 	  
stored query result in the internal browser window.

*Reset Slots* clears the 7 Slots with the search results.

Query Saving

The last keyword entered in *Query* field is pushed on top of  
the stack. This happens after *Search* button is pressed and subsequent 
keyword is entered in the *Query* field.

Restoring States. 

The states are restored every time the movie is started 
regardless it's a new version or no. When the product is released with a 
new menus a and states to be saved the slots will be left intact but the 
new states will overwrite the old ones from the previous version.

Meta search engines selection 
Via dropdown menu containing name, help text and the http 
address of the search engine.


History                                                            

Ver 0.6r700 (October 16, 1999)

Major internal rework - now old saved values can be read from new versions 
of the program too.

Main Menu items added:
Developer_Resources
Spammers tracking:
Added tools to trace the roots of spammers, junk e-mailers, etc.

Network-Tools -Lookup, Trace, Ping, WWWhois, Black Hole or the ORBS 
Open Relay list, DNS Records, HTTP Headers, Lookup, WHOIS Interface, 
Express Trace, Convert Base 10 to IP, URL UnEncode
Standard WHOIS interface 


Ver 0.6r600 (September 12, 1999)

Main Menu items added
 
Developer_Resources
Macromedia_TechNotes - Search Macromedia Documents & 
Technotes. Allows more configuration parameters than the Macromedia's 
Power Search
	- Page Numbers "Page1, ... Page 10"
	- Product Support Ares Search for all Macromedia products
  - Platform "either platform", "Mac", "Windows"
	- Sorting by Score", "Importance", "Title", "Product", "Platform", 
"Versions", "ID #"  
  - Where to Search "FullText", "Keywords"
  - Sort "ascending", "descending"

New parameters (not available in Macromedia's Power Search)
	- Results per page "10, 20, ... 100 "
  - Versions "All Versions", "Ver 7.0", "Ver 6.0", "Ver 5.0", "Ver 4.0", "Ver 
3.0", "Ver 2.0", "Ver 1.0"
  - Document type  "All Documents", "FAQ", "TechNotes", "More Recent 
TechNotes"
  - Author
  - Date

Help with examples for the underlying Verity Search Technology used by 
Macromedia for its search engine.

Main Menu items added

Online_Store
		 Amazon_Search
   	 Amazon_Bestsellers - Amazon.com 100 Hot Books. The 100 titles 
Amazon.com customers couldn't live without in the last 24 hours. 
Updated hourly. 

Ver 0.6r500 (August 24, 1999)

Main Menu added with following items

MetaSearchEngines
  News_Channel
  Online_Store

Online Store info searches feeded from Amazon.com.
You can now save search store results on the save slots and order 
secure at a later time Books, CDs, Videos, Toys, and Consumer 
Electronics from Amazon.com.

Ver 0.6r400 (August 19, 1999)

The button *Search* renamed to *Go* to include more general case
for the tasks when no search is performed.

Keyboard commands pressing ENTER on *Query* field initiates
*Go (search)* function automatically.

Improved Help function.

Saved slots now contain the following information Date,  time, search 
engine and *Query* being searched with. When mouse is over the slot 
the info for the saved slot is now displayed as a help string over the slot. 
This function is very usefull - it remembers when the search was 
performed, which engine is being searched as well as which query is 
being entered to receive the results saved in the slot.

Ver 0.6r300 (August 14, 1999)

Main Menu added with following items

	MetaSearchEngines
  News_Channels

       News Channels searches feeded from NewsHub.

Improved interface. Major restructuring for speed.

Ver 0.6r200 (August 5, 1999)
          
        Minor bug for the links in Metacrawler end results formatting 
resolved. 
        The formatting for other engines improved (no banners ads).

Ver 0.6r100 (August 4, 1999)

Major rework and advance - configuration of meta search engines 
via menus, check boxes and radio buttons with titles and help for 
each field. Each configured parameter is saved on the client's 
computer and later searches via the same meta seach engine are                      
performed via these configured parameters. The configuration is           
executed at run time dynamically.  The configured parameters are       
important because the search is controlled via timeout, number of 
links per pages returned, search engines used to perform the
search, etc.

A new meta search engines added.  Some of the old one's 
are excluded. Only most advanced meta search engines 
are now included.
      
       The meta search engines currently supported are
       -======================================-
              MetaCrawler
              C4ParallelSE
              ByteSearch
              ProFusion
              Dogpile
              MetaBug
              Mamma
              Match Site

       Seven save slots are now available for saving the requested 
       resutls.

Ver 0.5r200 (June 23, 1999)

		Update function realised.

		A minor bug in query field corrected. 

		Help file published.

Ver 0.5r100 (June 20, 1999)

The basic functionality  is released

		Internet connectivity

		Radio buttons functionality

		Current State Saving

Search Session Saving/Clearing

Query Saving

		Restoring States. 

		Meta search engines selection 

		Included engines

			MetaCrawler
  	 	Magellan
   		Northernlight
	   		CentraPoint
  	 	Cyber 411
		   	Highway61
   		Mamma
		   	Match Site

Pricing and Availability                                 

Gate2net PRO(fessional) for Windows 95/98, Windows NT 4.0 
or later will be available for a price. It will be standalone product to be 
downloaded as .exe file and installed on a desktop Wintel machine. More 
info for the PRO version of the product will be given later.

		Gate2net can be purchased by  bought directly from ConWare 
Multimedia's Web site at http//gate2net.hypermart.net. 

About ConWare Multimedia                              

ConWare Multimedia's mission is to add life to the Web. By 
providing its products based on Macromedia Director for Web based 
solutions to Web designers, consumers, and the enterprise, ConWare 
Multimedia is delivering a completely new generation of Internet tools and 
technologies designed to transform the Web experience. It is available on 
the Internet at http//conware-multimedia.hypermart.net. 


©1999 ConWare Multimedia. All rights reserved.    














