HOW STUFF WORKS

The name of the Web site, How Stuff Works, is somewhat misleading.  It does tell you how stuff works, stuff such as ball-point pens and catnip and modern water pistols.  But it also explains how stuff like urban legends and hoaxes work, how to become an astronaut, and how to pick a lock.

Be warned.  This is definitely a for-profit Web site, with thousands of ads and even some links to outside the site that keep you tethered to How Stuff Works till you unleash yourself.

It was just in December of 2004 that I learned you can turn off much of the interference for a dollar a month, which is a money-making idea I would never have thought of.  Imagine making a Web site so in demand yet so filled with interference that people will pay you $12 a year just to speed up and simplify their use of the real content thereon.

But gnawing through all the ads and struggling to figure out the navigation are worth it just to get at the meat of the site -- the articles.  The number and range of the articles are remarkable.  No doubt you can think of a topic that isn't covered by this site, but it'll take awhile.

None of this would matter if the articles were not well-done, but they are.  In my experience surfing the Internet I've found few collections of such a long series of articles, especially from multiple authors, that are as well-written as these are.  The editing standards at How Stuff Works are admirably high.  The explanations are understandable by the average person like me, they are well-organized from the overview down to the details, they are clear and unambiguous, they are objective and logical, and they really do explain what they purport to, at least to my satisfaction, and I'm picky.  (The list of the principal authors is HERE.)

Furthermore, some of the articles take advantage of still images and even videos to show you visually what can be so difficult to explain in words.  This content of the site exploits the capabilities of the Internet just as they should be exploited.  As I write this, shortly after the December 26th, 2004, disaster in the Indian Ocean that has killed 150,000 so far, I can recommend the pages on this subject that start HERE.

Navigating the How Stuff Works site is a challenge for several reasons:

• because there are so many articles,
• because the articles cover such a large variety of topics,
• because of its insistence on forcing so many of the article names to conform to the "How ??? Works" format,
• because there are so many ads,
• because unless you're paying attention you often can't tell whether a particular link will take you outside the howstuffworks.com domain name,
• and mainly because the site offers so many so confusing ways to track down what you're looking for.

Here are only some of the ways, as of 2005, to navigate the site:

• The home page is HOWSTUFFWORKS.COM.
• You'll find a search box a short ways down in the left column.
• There are two long lists you can search.  A list of 876 articles in alphabetical order by title is at BIG.
• And a randomly sorted list of 728 additional articles in question form is at QUESTION ARCHIVE.
• Here is the link to a list for each of the nine categories: COMPUTERS, AUTOS, ELECTRONICS, SCIENCE, HOME, HEALTH, MONEY, TRAVEL, PEOPLE
• If you figure out what Stuffo and Shortstuff are, please .