Sep 14, 2007
Periodic Table Names
Periodic table names, it’s an odd phrase, what does it mean? It obviously means something to dozens and dozens of visitors to ChemSpy.com who hit the site from the search engines looking for that exact phrase. I puzzled for ages trying to figure out what these visitors were after. Were they simply looking for different types of periodic table? There are lots of sites out there that discuss traditional, modified, circular, three-dimensional and some rather bizarre periodic tables (there are PTs for desserts and sexual positions, (NSFW) you may care to know).
Then I spotted a follow up search from a cluster of subsequent visitors, they were searching for not just “periodic table names” but “periodic table with names”. Then a query came in that was even more explicit - “periodic table with element names”. Duh! I thought to myself. They’re simply looking for a PT that not only has the elemental symbols but gives the full name of the element to which the symbol refers. Well, the answer to that query is easy - yes. Best among a big bunch has to be good friend Mark Winter’s site based out of Sheffield University WebElements. So, there’s the answer. Unless you know otherwise…
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Andrew Sun said,
September 18, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Always remember phrases in the search box are supposed to be inserted by such logic operators as AND, OR, etc. That way you may not mistaken the phrases into weird meanings.
chemspy said,
September 19, 2007 at 7:33 am
Andrew - Well, almost all search engines allow the use of Boolean logic operators, but most everyday users tend not to use them, either because they are unaware of the option or else they feel they are not needed. Indeed, Google actually advises users not to use AND. If you want to make certain a specific word is search you use a + before the word for Google.
As to interpreting the weird phrases, it has to be simply that many of the hit phrases through which visitors reach ChemSpy are either written in haste or by those of different education because some of them really are weeeeeird.
db