For many years we have been the biggest of Google fans as close competitors were not able to compete with the innovative technologies Google used. Now Snap.com is putting on the pressure with a whole new look. And it’s easy.
Snap lets you see not only the results but the actual pages that it finds right from the results screen. This saves you from having to click on the link only to find out that particular result is not relevant. This is about saving time and having an easy to navigate interface. I could spend a couple of paragraphs trying to describe how cool and easy it is but it’s faster to just go try it yourself. Go on. Try it.
Billing themselves as “The Other Way to Search” they really have implemented something different. When you start typing in your search phrase, don’t be surprised when Snap starts offering you suggestions (through a drop down box). If you’ve every used Google’s suggest a term function, it’s not too different but adds the twist of giving you the opportunity to search for news related to that phrase right from the drop down box.
With the dual pane view to show you both the results and the actual page of the highlighted result, you get easy navigation using either your mouse or the arrow keys on your keyboard. You can also determine the size of the preview window (small, medium or large just like your favorite fast food restaurant). One click of the mouse and you can open the results site in either the same window or a new window.
Type in a location and you can also pull up a map of that location. Yes, the other search engines provide the same kind of functionality but the beauty of Snap is that you can see it right in the results window instead of going to a different page or window.
We haven’t yet had time to examine the quality of the links or results you get (does your search get you the information you want quickly?) but the first impression is certainly a friendly one.