How to Use DMOZ

The DMOZ Open Directory project is not your typical automated search engine, like Google or Yahoo. In DMOZ, which stands for Directory Mozilla, website entries are not added automatically, but rather are submitted by users and maintained by editors. While using the DMOZ Open Directory project is not the same as using a search engine, it's intuitive and easy to access.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Search for a Category

1. Think of a topic for which you'd like to find associated websites. You won't be searching for specific sites; you'll search for categories of sites. Sites are added to the DMOZ directory by top-level category and subcategories.
2. Determine whether your interest could be indexed into many different categories. For example, if you are searching for hair salons, listings could either be under the top-level category "Health" or "Business."
3. Go to the DMOZ homepage in your web browser (see Resources below). Enter the topic in the search box and hit "Search." You can narrow or broaden your search by choosing the "Advanced Search" option. This will limit your results to just categories or sites, and it will filter sites for different age levels.
4. Read through the search results. The categories that match your interest will be listed at the top of the page and individual sites that match the search query are listed below that. Note that the search results aren't listed as top-level categories; they are divided into sub-levels as well. For instance, the hair salon results wouldn't just say "Business," but rather "Business: Consumer Goods and Services: Beauty."
5. Click on the category that best matches your needs and look at the sites listed below. If one of the sites matches, click on the site's link to visit that site.

Browse for a Category

6. Use the DMOZ homepage to browse categories. Do this if you don't have a specific idea of what types of sites you're looking for or if you just want to see what's new on the Web.
7. Study the broad categories on the front page. Each of the nearly 20 categories holds a large number of subcategories about more specific topics. For example, Subcategories in "Health" include "Fitness," "Nutrition" and "Beauty." The deeper into the subcategories you go, the more specific the information becomes.
8. Choose and click on a category, and then click on a more specific subcategory. Keep clicking on subcategories until you come to the topic you want.
9. Navigate to sites by clicking on the descriptions that show up underneath the subcategory. Each site will have a brief synopsis of the site's content or the product and services the company provides.
10. Return a higher-level (broader) category by clicking on the parent category links at the top of the page. For example, if you went to the "Computers" category, then to "Software" and finally to "Graphics," you would see the following links at the top of the page: "Top: Computers: Software: Graphics." To navigate back to any of the broader categories, click on its associated link at the top of the page.
11. Click on a category that ends in the "@" symbol to see a category that's related to the category you're currently in, but which resides elsewhere. For example, if you click on "Computers," "Software" and then "Games@" you will be redirected to "Games: Video Games." You can return to the previous category by using the "Back" button on your browser.

Tips & Warnings

• Use the "Top" link on any page to return to the front page of the DMOZ site.