FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact:
Brent Simmons
World Wide Power & Light
(206)269-6505
bsimmons@wrldpwr.com
http://www.wrldpwr.com/
Add a Fast and Flexible Search Engine to Your Web Server with SpotLight 1.0
Seattle, WA–October 28, 1996–World Wide Power & Light’s new SpotLight CGI
and file indexer now makes it easy for Macintosh webmasters to add a high
performance local file search engine to their Macintosh web server.
SpotLight’s ease-of-use is its central design goal. Its capabilities
include meta tag indexing; multiple search pages with unique search
directories; and extendability through custom scripts.
SpotLight is a suite of Userland Frontier scripts and code resources
(written in C) that work with Claris Filemaker Pro 3.0 to index a site and
search it via the SpotLight CGI. Frontier and Filemaker Pro are both
PowerPC native.
SpotLight’s user interface takes advantage of new features in Frontier 4.1,
especially the new MacBird user interface component. For instance,
SpotLight features a status window which tells the user at a glance what’s
being searched for, when the last file index occurred, and how many
searches since the last index.
SpotLight does not require the user to learn a long list of new tags, do
any scripting or programming, or edit config files.
Many features, such as scheduling a nightly index, are one mouse-movement
away from turning on and off.
“We wanted to create a search CGI very easy to set up and manage, and that
didn’t trade off performance. It had to be fast at indexing and searching,”
says SpotLight developer Brent Simmons. “We also wanted to ensure that
SpotLight had the advanced features that many webmasters require, and that
these functions were as easy to use as the basic features. I’m pleased to
say that we attained these goals and more.”
Dave Winer of Userland Software says, “We’re running World Wide Power &
Light’s SpotLight engine. It automatically indexes the site every night at
2AM. It’s very fast! And it was incredibly easy to set up. Every serious
sysop should take a look at this software.”
Tattoo Mabonzo of Planet Io and Net.Business Daily says, “We’ve tried them
all (search engines) and as a clear result, we’re now running SpotLight”.
Daniel Berlinger, Macintosh networking and scripting consultant, points out
one of SpotLight’s side-effects: “I can’t believe how much stuff I’ve
discovered on my clients’ websites! SpotLight illuminates all the musty
corners, which helps my clients always keep their best foot forward. It is
a clean, modern, scriptable engine that I can recommend to my clients
without reservation.”
Users can download a fully-functional, time-limited (30 days) demo from
http://www.wrldpwr.com/spotlight/.
Ordering information is included with the download. SpotLight costs $99 for
a single-server license. Multiple-server licenses are discounted.
As an introductory offer, users who purchase SpotLight before November 15,
1996 are entitled to a free upgrade to SpotLight 2.0. (Incremental 1.x
upgrades are free to all purchasers of 1.0.) SpotLight will be frequently
updated: version 1.1 is in development now, and the feature set of version
2.0 is under consideration.
——
World Wide Power & Light: “Your Web Utility Company”
World Wide Power & Light’s experience creating custom Frontier and
Filemaker Pro solutions for their clients has led to this first commercial
product.
Email inquiries to Brent Simmons at bsimmons@wrldpwr.com, or call
(206)269-6505.
Macintosh, Filemaker Pro, and Frontier are trademarks of Apple Computer,
Claris, and Userland Software, respectively.