The information contained on the Web is simply the information of the individual sites, and thus is infinitely varied. A great deal of practical information is accessible on the Web, as well as entertainment, special interest, and consumer information. News is instantly accessible,[12] the scores of sports games are updated immediately,[13] and the price of a specific stock can be pinpointed at any particular time.[14]
The World Wide Web is composed of two main types of sites: information providers and metasites or compilers. An information provider typically displays meaningful, original content which may be occasionally updated. Examples include the sites for USA Today,[15] Delta Airlines,[16] Barnes and Noble,[17] and the Library of Congress? A metasite compiles data on information provider sites and points, or links, to those sites.[19] Metasites include web search engines,20 and catalogs of sites of a particular, narrow interest.
Because of the insular, self-sufficient nature of information providers, they rarely link to sites of other organizations. Metasites are often used to locate information provider sites of interest, and are a growing trend in web page development21 because they are cheaply and easily made. Metasites, however, are more frequently meeting legal opposition as they try to help users locate and utilize the information provider sites.
The main tool visitors use to find a new site on the Web is a search engine? Search engines are gigantic databases that catalog all the sites on the Web and are frequently visited by Web users to find a site that they have not visited before. Afar a user has described to the search engine what type of site she is looking for, the search engine will display a list of possible choices from which the user chooses the site she would like to visit. The user can visit a site on the list by clicking on it, and traveling to the site via a link.