Interview - Vladimir Chernyshov, technical director of the intellectual search system Nigma.RF. Intelligent search engine Nigma

The subject of today's article will be Nigma - this is an intelligent search system that stands out among all competitors with an unusual search system that allows you to quickly find what you need and sift out the slag.

When discussing search engines in the community of webmasters and optimizers, it is customary to mention Yandex and Google, everything else remains outside the brackets, sometimes they remember mail.ru, but there is no talk of nigma.ru at all.

The question is - why? It's all about traffic. Website owners are interested in traffic from visitors, and Nigma’s share in the RuNet is negligible. Unpopular search engines are of no interest - too few people use them to spend attention and time.

Meanwhile, for a simple network user, the Nigma search engine is much more interesting than its famous competitors.

Intelligent search system

The uniqueness of Nigma.rf (or Nigma Ru) lies not in secret algorithms for ranking web pages, but in the ability to collect, sort and process information in such a way that only the necessary answers appear on the screen and the user does not have to go through site after site, bumping into different GS and non-thematic resources.

It is very convenient, easy to use, and friendly even for non-technical people.

There are special modules that are responsible for non-standard types of information, for example, searching for torrents or solving mathematical problems - I will talk about them in more detail below.

There is a logical filtering of requests, in which only the category of responses that relates to the topic is selected. For example, many phrases have double, triple or more meanings. A regular search will show everything mixed up, but Nigma will recognize your area of interest and delete it.

The search functions are significantly enhanced by the fact that Nigma takes into account search results from other search engines and can compare and combine them, which allows for better results.

Let's talk about all the functions in more detail.

Normal – Unusual search Nygma

It was mentioned above that the search results, among other things, use the data of others, which makes it better and more complete, but this is far from the most interesting element.

Search query syntax – no need to know!

Unlike other search engines, Nigma does not require knowledge of the syntax of search queries (all kinds of +, quotes, exclamation marks, etc.). Most users don't know how to find exact phrases or exclude words using special characters, so they don't use them when entering keywords.

Here everything is implemented more simply. We click above the search bar “Advanced Search” and in human understandable form set detailed search conditions.

If you want to exclude obviously unnecessary words, write them in the “no words” field. Let’s say when searching for information about lions, using the query “Lion”, you can exclude the word “Tolstoy” and pages about the great writer will not bother you.

You need an exact phrase - there is a special field for it. Searching for a specific site is not a problem.

As a hint, here is an example of what syntax would have to be typed manually if there were no ready-made fields.

You can immediately set the search region, the search engines used, the language, the preferred sorting by date, and several more functions that pre-clarify the search results - and all this without any special knowledge.

Query filtering (clustering)

After you have received results for your request, Nigma.ru gives you the opportunity to filter them in order to remove obviously unnecessary garbage and save the user’s precious time viewing inappropriate pages.

To do this, a list of categories that appear most frequently in the results appears to the left of the search results. Returning to the example with Leo, we see that many sites relate to astrology, but we need animals - we put crosses in front of the horoscope. Clicking the cross again sets a check mark - a required word.

In this way, from the whole variety of pages using a filter, I left only sites about lions of animals and the king of beasts.

Search tips

Unlike competitors, by entering a query in the search bar you don’t even have to go to the results, since search tips automatically provide information on the entered word from Wikipedia.

This is convenient if you come across an unfamiliar term - enter it into the search bar, hover over the hint, and read the answer. There is no need to press Enter.

Isolation of official sites

Nigma’s user-friendly search element is the highlighting of official sites, and a special icon is added to them in the search results. With its help, you can quickly find the organization you need among the mountains of network garbage. This feature helps protect the Internet from scammers, since they will not be able to pass off their website as an official one.

File search (music, books, torrent)

Searching the Internet does not always mean searching for sites with information; often users want to download something - books, music, torrent files with films or programs.

In most cases, turning to Google or Yandex for such data turns life into hell, since the search results show everything, but not the places where something can be downloaded.

The Nigma search system uses special modules for these tasks that work specifically for file searches. Music and books are placed in special tabs.

Book search initially selects sites where you can download literature. A music search provides links to ready-made tracks, which means you can listen to them directly in your browser or download them to your computer. By the way, registered users can independently add audio files to the system.

Torrent trackers are not placed in a separate tab. To search for them, Nigma.rf requires entering an additional word in the search bar - “torrent” or “torrent”. All found torrents with this name will be placed in a table indicating the number of uploading and downloading users.

Nigma - mathematics

This is the module for which Nygma is so loved by students and schoolchildren (and will be loved by those who read the article for the first time).

Nigma actually solves problems in mathematics - equations and examples of varying complexity, including logarithms and complex numbers. It’s difficult to call this function a search, since answers are not searched, but counted, but the feature is really cool and unusual.

Moreover, not only the results of the solution are displayed, but also their progress in various ways.

(Click the picture to enlarge)

Not only numeric data input, but also words are accepted for processing. You can write an equation in Russian without numbers and the system will still calculate it (even certain mistakes in words are allowed).

I hope that these opportunities will not reduce the level of education in our country and students will use it only for testing.

Nigma - chemistry

Chemistry is not a separate section, but it works by analogy with Nygma-mathematics. In the search bar, enter substances in words or letters, and the search engine will show all possible chemical reactions between them, supporting the formulas with hints and comments.

Chemistry at school was easy for me, but I know that for many classmates it was such a dark forest that Nygma Chemistry could be the only way out of it.

Online unit and currency converter

Another feature is the ability to convert various quantities into other units. You can ask to translate the units of measurement of information, for example, by asking the question “how many MB are in 4 GB” we will get the following answer:

It is possible to convert currencies of different countries at the current exchange rate. The system even accepts some common names. It is enough to ask a question in human language and you will find out “how many bunnies are in 5 wooden bunnies”:

When you communicate with Nigma more closely, you begin to believe that artificial intelligence is already a reality.

Nigma for webmasters - site search

Despite the fact that the intelligent search engine is of greatest interest (at the moment) to users, there are still benefits for webmasters.

We are talking about searching the site. If you read my article on how to do a Yandex site search (), then you understand what I’m talking about. If not, then I’ll briefly explain.

We get 2 codes:

We paste the frame code with search results onto the created page;
We paste the search form code into the place on the site where we want to see a line for entering queries.

Index

Nigma searches both in its own index and in the indexes of Google, Yahoo, MSN, Yandex, Rambler, AltaVista, Aport.

The Nigma.ru error correction system corrects gross errors (Yurey Lushkof), typos, offering the user a choice of not one, but several correction options. Errors associated with incorrect choice of keyboard layout fibgrf - error (including combinations with other errors) are corrected. The dictionary of the intelligent search system is expanded with the names of famous brands, which the user can type in the query line even in Russian, since Nigma automatically expands the search with an alternative spelling of the brand.

Decoding abbreviations

Nigma.ru has a service for decoding abbreviations. Abbreviations are entered into the search bar and, in parallel with the search for documents, a search for transcripts of abbreviations is carried out. Transcripts that have been confirmed in the found documents are included in the list of clusters. And those transcripts that have not been confirmed by documents fall into a special pseudo-cluster “Abbreviations”. Examples:

IMHO, and also like this IMHO

Services and tools

Mathematical

The Nigma system allows you not only to perform the simplest arithmetic transformations, but also to solve mathematical problems of varying degrees of complexity. Nygma also recognizes more than a thousand physical and mathematical constants and units of measurement, which allows you to perform operations with many quantities (including solving equations with them) and receive an answer in the required units of measurement. In addition to equations, the system solves all problems typical for search engine calculators and currency converters. However, Nygma can count in fractions and knows commonly used synonyms for currencies. So, for example, you can calculate how much wood is in a dollar. Using the new service, users will be able to solve various mathematical problems (simplify expressions, solve linear and quadratic equations, systems of equations, equations with units of measurement, convert currencies, calculate the modulus of a number, simplify trigonometric expressions, reduce fractions and much more) by entering them directly into search string in the form of strict or non-strict (plain) text.

News

In response to a query, users will see the three most recent news stories directly on the search results page.

The developers indexed and processed data from more than 3,500 media RSS feeds and popular blogs. The site also has a form through which users themselves can add news resources to the search engine index. The news database is updated every 5 minutes. δ

Hints

Autocomplete search string

Firstly, the system offers options based on previous requests from Nigma.ru users.

Secondly, opposite the proposed autocomplete examples, the most relevant sites related to the user’s request are displayed. Now you can go to the desired site without even typing in the request to the end, but only by selecting it from the list and pressing the “right” key, or simply clicking on the link. If the desired site is in the first place in the tooltip, then you can not select it, but go to it only using the “right” key. For example, if you enter two letters: “by” and press the “right” key, the gismeteo website will open.

Thirdly, the developers have made it as easy as possible for the transition to the most popular sites among Nigma.ru users. For example, previously, to get to the Odnoklassniki website, you had to type 13 letters, press Enter, wait for the search results, and then click on the first result. Now nigma.ru users, holding down the “O” key for several seconds and then releasing it, will immediately be taken to the Odnoklassniki website. The same will happen when pressing the keys: “v” (the user will be taken to the site “in contact”), “yu” (“youtube.com”), “z” (“zaitsev.net”), etc. Moreover, the user no need to switch the language - instead of “o” you can click on “j”, and it will also be redirected to the classmates website.

Improved version

In the improved version, the search engine answers the user's questions before he completely enters his question into the search bar. The system offers filling options, taking into account the popularity of previous user requests. To the right of the option is the answer to the question. For example, if you enter a short query, the system itself will select similar query options, immediately offering an answer. To launch the new version of automatic completion, the developers used a knowledge base consisting of 12 million questions and answers, which was compiled based on information from Wikipedia.

Tooltips

When selecting the desired option in the search hint, the user can see definitions of the concepts and words that he wants to find. The database contains 340928 definitions. Information is taken from Wikipedia. It is expected to connect other sources of information.

“We are working to ensure that the user does not need to click the “Find” button, select a site, or search for information on the site. A search engine must be able to answer a question before it is fully typed."

Search by music files

Through the “Music” tab, Nygma users will be able to find and immediately listen to their favorite song right on the search results page (“Vivaldi Seasons”). The Nigma.ru search robot finds music files on the Internet and indexes the tags contained in these same files.

When a user searches in the “music” tab, Nigma finds music files, and the user receives direct links to them as results. The search engine has now indexed 1,600,000 audio files. The developers are planning to expand the base next year, 2009.

Story

Alpha version launched on April 12, 2005
September 26, 2005 Nigma provided

Kuznetsov Vladimir Georgievich, associate professor of the Department of TiMEMO and ICT, OGBU DPO "RIRO"

Nygma- Russian intelligent metasearch system, the first clustering search engine in Runet. The project was created with the support of the departments of computer science and psychology of Moscow State University, as well as Stanford University (USA). The name "Nigma" (one of the genus of spiders of the family Dictynidae, en:Nigma) was chosen due to its association with the World Wide Web. The founders of the project are Viktor Lavrenko and Vladimir Chernyshov. The head of the Nigma.RF development team is Vladislav Kuznetsov.
At the top of the Nygma start window there is a menu bar for accessing all popular services.
This eliminates the need to open new windows or tabs to access these services, or enter special addresses. You just need to click on the name of the desired service in this menu and a social network or mail or TV program, or news will open next to Nigma.
So, for example, using the “TV program” menu commands, you can view the TV program for the current day or some other day of the week, indicating the viewing time (now, morning, afternoon, evening).
If we select the “maps.yandex.ru” command in the “Maps” menu, and in the window that opens, select the “Ryazan View on panorama” option, you can take a virtual walk around Ryazan.

Nygma's control elements

The Nigma search engine window itself consists of 6 tabs: “Internet”, “Pictures”, “Books”, “Music”, “Mathematics”, “Mini-games”, a special field for entering a query with a button for initializing information search for the entered query , and a number of other control elements. By default, the "Internet" tab is selected in the search engine window.
To switch to another tab, click on the button with the name of this tab located in the line of buttons located above the field for entering queries.
The name of the button for initializing requests depends on the selected tab. If the "Internet" tab is selected, the button is engraved "Find"; if the "Pictures" tab is selected, the button is called "Find Pictures!", etc.
Each tab below the query entry field has its own line for example queries.

Smart search in all search engines at once!

Nigma is designed in such a way that after entering a query from the keyboard and pressing the initialization button, the search engine will begin searching for the requested information immediately not only using Nigma, but also using other search engines, and immediately (Yandex, Google, Rambler, Bing, Yahoo, Altavista). It's comfortable. At the same time, if the query is poorly formulated, too many documents will be found as a result of the search and it will take sufficient time to extract the most suitable document from this list.
To speed up the search for the necessary information in Nigma, you can use the following main methods:

filtering the requested information on specific topics;
use of a special block of control elements;
use of advanced search capabilities;
using your own query language.

When you start entering a query, Nigma automatically generates lists of hints for query input options, which significantly speeds up query entry (just click on the desired hint option.

Filtering requested information by specific topics

The essence of this method is as follows. Based on the user's request, Nigma generates a list of documents, dividing it into groups (filters). Using filters, the user can refine the query and quickly sort the found documents according to the topic he needs (select the ones he needs or exclude unnecessary topics).
Let us enter the general query “Medicine” on the “Internet” tab and click the “Find” button. As a result, we received an insanely large number of results - more than 150 million documents.
But Nigma automatically grouped the found documents into topics that are similar in meaning, and displays a list of these topics in the column on the left.
To the left of the name of each topic/group of topics with a similar topic is an indicator in the form of a miniature square flag.
By clicking on the flag indicator, we can either turn on topics, or, conversely, turn them off so that they are eliminated during filtering.
If we click on the indicator for the first time, an icon in the form of a miniature red cross appears in the indicator, and the corresponding topic name will be crossed out, i.e. this topic will be excluded during filtering.
If we double-click on the indicator, an icon in the form of a green checkmark will appear in the indicator, and the topic indicated by the indicator will be included in the list of selected documents when filtering.
Enabling or disabling topics when filtering documents takes effect after clicking the "Filter" button.
If we want to turn off all the topics presented in the list, then we must select the “Exclude” command in the “With all” group.
If we want to include all the topics presented in the list, then we must select the “Select” command in the “With all” group.
If we want to reset all selected checkboxes (that is, not filter anything), then we need to select the “Reset” command in the “With all” group.
Suppose we need to exclude all topics when filtering, with the exception of the topic “Drug Directory”. The easiest way to do this is as follows. First, use the “Reset” command to exclude all topics from the list of topics. Then additionally click on the indicator of the topic “Directory of Medicines” so that instead of the icon with a red cross, a green checkmark icon appears in the indicator. Finally, click on the “Filter” button.

Using a block of control elements

Under the query entry field there is a block of control elements for configuring the search.
If we turn on the “In Ryazan” checkbox in this block, then the search for the information requested in the request will be limited only to the Ryazan region. The "Search Engines" button opens a list of available search engines: Yandex, Google, Rambler, Bing, Yahoo, Altavista, Nigma.
By default, all these search engines are connected with checkboxes and will be used to find the necessary information. If necessary, some of them can be disabled.
The "Language" button opens the list of available languages. By default, the "Any language" option is selected. At the same time, you can use the selector button to select other options: “Russian”, “Ukrainian”, “English”.
The "Sorting" button opens a menu for selecting a sorting method. By default, the "No sorting" option is selected. You can use the selector button to select the following sorting options: “By date (from new)” or “By date (from old)”.

The "Settings" button opens a group of options included by checkboxes in the search engine ("Autocomplete", "Translator", "News", "Mathematics", "Chemistry", "Fact Search", "Definitions"). Some of them can be disabled if desired.

Using Advanced Search Mode

On the right side of the line with buttons for selecting the desired tab there are two more buttons: and “Switch to help mode”.
Clicking on the "Advanced Search" button opens a special panel for selecting additional options for an advanced search for the information you are looking for.
A second click on the same button closes the advanced search panel.
By clicking on the "Go to help mode" button, Nigma is switched to help mode. In this mode, you can quickly get acquainted with the list of tasks that are available to the user using certain system controls.

Search images in Nygma

To search for pictures, go to the "Pictures" tab. Let's say we want to find pictures of an Amur tiger.
In the field for entering a request from the keyboard, enter “Amur tiger” and click the “Find pictures!” button.
As a result, a window will appear with a selection of thumbnails depicting an Amur tiger.
Click on the thumbnail you like to open the picture in a separate window.
By right-clicking on the picture, open the context menu and in this menu select the command we need (to save the picture in a file, print the image on a printer, copy the image to the clipboard, save it on the computer as a background image to decorate the Windows desktop, etc. .d.).

Nigma - Smart Library

If we leave the request “Amur Tiger” and go to the “Books” tab, then we will automatically go to the section of the search engine related to literature dedicated, one way or another, to Amur tigers.
Moreover, based on the request (in our case, “Amur tiger”), Nigma generates a list of documents, dividing it into groups (filters). Using filters, the user can refine the query and quickly sort the found documents according to the topic he needs (select the ones he needs or exclude unnecessary topics).
1. Search in Russian literature
1.1. By author's last name
By writing only the author's last name (for example, Yesenin), you can find his works.
I have already pointed out that Nygma’s tabs are interconnected by the entered query.
So, for example, if we want to select the most suitable picture with the image of Sergei Yesenin, then we just need to go to the “Pictures” tab to see an extensive collection of pictures with the image of S. Yesenin
1.2. Text of the author's work
To find a specific text by the author, you need to supplement the query with the name of the work, for example: Chekhov Horse name.
2. Search in foreign literature
In the search bar, you can write both the name of the author (for example, Galsworthy) and the title of his work (for example, The Forsyte Saga).

Nygma Music

Nigma Music is a service that simplifies the search for musical compositions. The Nigma.ru search robot finds music files on the Internet and indexes the tags contained in these same files, producing the desired result upon request.
Nygma searches for music all over the Internet, sorts and groups the results. This means that you can easily find the artist or song you need, and without leaving Nigma you can listen to and download them.
Search for music tracks by artist, album, song
The user can enter the name of the group, song, artist, album, etc. into the search bar (for example, Lyube, Alexander Malinin, etc.).
In the materials found by request, when you click on the “Read lyrics” link, a page with the lyrics of the song will open. For example, with the lyrics of the song "Shores".
When you click on the “Listen” link, the player control panel will open and the process of playing the ordered melody/album will begin.
When you click on the "Copy" link, a panel will open asking "Do you want to open or save?"
If you want to save the selected melody in the desired folder, expand the menu of the "Save" button and in this menu select the "Save as" command.
A standard “Save As” window will open, in which you just need to specify the destination folder and then click the “Save” button.

Nygma. Catalog of popular games

Nygma. Mathematics

The Nigma mathematical system allows you to perform simple arithmetic transformations and solve mathematical problems, taking into account various units of measurement and recognizing mathematical and physical constants. Queries for currency conversion, solving systems of equations, and plotting functions are also supported.
The mathematical system was launched in October 2008.

Nygma. Chemistry

In December 2008, support for queries on inorganic chemical reactions, both the starting and the final reaction substances, became available. Subsequently, search for chemical reactions and support for organic chemistry were added.
As of 2011, the system allows you to search for more than 12,000 inorganic reactions. Substances can be specified either as names (“sodium chloride”, “rock salt”) or as formulas (“NaCl”).

Browse Search

Nygma is effective for overview search when collecting information. It allows you to quickly find public information from various areas and check if you have missed anything important using other search engines.
I have prepared a small brochure with a selection of exercises for accelerated development of the described online service, and you can download this brochure from the provided link. (doc, 6.99MB)

Sometimes it seems that only some of the main search engines are used on the Internet - Google, Bing, Yandex, and the rest are a completely strange (not particularly in demand) product, it is not clear for whom it was created. If you think logically, then why, in principle, use anything else if the search giants can provide users with all the necessary information.

However, as it turns out, some services have very interesting features. If we talk about the global web, then I remember the search engine DuckDuckGo, in RuNet, along with such well-known Russian-language search engines as Yandex, Rambler, you can notice another one worthy of attention - Nygma !

The search engine Nigma.RF (Nigma is a genus of spiders) was born back in 2004 (the alpha version was launched on April 12, 2005) in the bowels of the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics of Moscow State University. Initially, Nigma searched exclusively on the Livestream.ru website, but soon enough the PS learned to search throughout the entire RuNet (in 2005, Nigma created its own index, and in the same year the company entered into an agreement with Yandex to use their search results in XML).

At the moment, no more than 0.3% of search queries in RuNet are made using Nigma, but thanks to a number of original features, this search engine has its own identity. Let's talk about these features in more detail.

So, the features of Nygma are:

1. Clustering. After executing a query, the user will receive several relevant clusters (blocks of similar queries. Example: along with the main search results, encyclopedic information, data from online stores, etc. can be displayed on the left). Thanks to this, the user has the opportunity to quickly clarify the request, if necessary.

2. Search using your own index and other search engines— in particular, it is possible to search on Yandex, Google, Rambler, Bing, Yahoo, Aport.

3. Smart tips.

Nigama is one of the first search engines to feature “smart suggestions”. Now this is already difficult to surprise anyone with, however, in this search engine it is implemented somewhat differently than, say, in Google. When you enter a query in Nigma, you can get not only tips for popular queries, but also, for example, an encyclopedic reference (in the form of a tooltip) or information about the price of a product;

4. Availability of filters.

Filters are located in the left column of the search results and contain various “clarifying” queries with which you can “customize” the search results exactly as you need, removing all that is unnecessary. That is, in other words, you will determine which topics correspond to the request and which do not - for example, by selecting the word car, you will find in the filters the values "used cars", "prices", "foreign cars", "ads", etc., which will help slightly clarify the scope of the search query.

5. Tabular “issue”. If you are not satisfied with the traditional “issue”, in Nigma you have the opportunity to receive search results in the form of a table.

6. Educational features Nigma-mathematics and Nigma-chemistry. Nygma can not only help in finding information, with the help of the educational functions of this search engine you can solve some problems in mathematics and chemistry or simply significantly expand your knowledge in these sciences;

7. Decoding abbreviations and currency converter.

8. Search by music. Nygma has a convenient search for music, and you are given the opportunity to both download the desired works and listen to them immediately on the spot. In the latter case, a player with a playlist appears in the right corner.

9. Search by torrents. By adding the word “torrent” or “torrent” to the request, you will receive a list (in table form) of pages (that do not require tracker registration) where you can download the desired file. Very, very convenient, I dare say :)

10. Links to popular resources. Another interesting feature of Nygma is the top menu, which is a selection of bookmarks on popular sites/portals of various topics (for example, News, Maps, Addresses, Social Networks, and so on).

You could safely call the article something like 10 reasons why you need to use a search engine Nygma. Although, I admit, the project has many more features. In general, it should be said that Nigma.RF can rightfully be called an intelligent search system; when working with it, you feel that some “virtual organism” is helping you make the right choice (query) and get the appropriate result. Don't know where to start searching? — filters and hints will help you specify your request. Looking for music or torrents? — get direct links and the ability to listen to songs. A very “living” semblance of a search engine for people is being created, it’s strange why so few users use it. Moreover, as far as search quality is concerned, the results are quite adequate. Perhaps it’s all about promotion, but in general I definitely liked Nygma.

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Hello, dear readers of the blog site. Today we will talk about another search engine, which was once called Nigma, but after the introduction of Cyrillic domains, it underwent a rebranding and is now proudly written in Russian letters - Nigma.rf.

A little earlier you could read my reviews of the mastodons of the Runet search market: Yandex and Google, which ranks second in popularity among the Russian-speaking Internet community. Those reviews were voluminous and commensurate with the scale of these search engines.

I wrote in a little less detail about Mail, which partially uses Google’s results, and about Rambler’s search, which, in turn, has completely become parasites of Yandex.

In even less detail, I touched on the mastodons from the search world of the bourgeoisie: Yahoo, which now uses Bing’s search results, and Bing itself, which has seriously increased its share after assimilation with Yahoo. I also sang a requiem to Aporta, who rested in God’s life and whose domain was sold for a pittance for the purpose of some kind of shop.

The hero of today’s review, in fact, has never been to Olympus or even close to it (unlike the systems mentioned above), but is nevertheless worthy of attention, because he has his own features that others do not have, and despite his modest financial and human resources Nigma continues to exist as a search engine in RuNet and is even trying to expand into the Vietnamese market.

Operating principles and differences of the Nigma search engine

First of all, I want to immediately explain why I called Nigma is an add-on for popular search engines. They have their own search robot that indexes the Internet (or just Runet), but in addition to their own index database, the developers actively use public databases of other systems (at the moment, after Aport fell out of the picture, the only ones left are Yandex, Google, Rambler, Bing, Yahoo , Altavista).

How large the share of Nygma’s base itself is in this variety of data remains a mystery. But relying on fairly modest human resources (several dozen employees, if I’m not mistaken) and, probably, modest financial capabilities, the costs of indexing the RuNet on your own should be small, because otherwise you can easily go down the drain.

Actually, this project was conceived as a kind of tool that sorts the results into shelves (categories). This action is called in Nigma clustering and it means the following. The total output at the user's request is usually monstrous in size, and the search task in this case is to find user documents (links to them with title and ).

But it is not always clear what exactly the user wanted to see in the first places in the search results. In most cases, there is ambiguity (Yandex has recently partially solved this problem with the help of Spectrum technology). Therefore, the developers decided, along with the general search results, to offer users also Nygma filters, which would make it possible to either highlight certain clusters or, conversely, remove some of them from the search results.

This mess looks something like this:

A set of filters is displayed on the left. Clicking in the checkbox opposite the desired cluster leads to its exclusion from the search (a cross is placed), clicking again, on the contrary, leads to the obligatory display of this cluster, and so on in a circle. Thus, in Nigma you can quickly and easily filter out huge search results and increase its relevance for your loved one:

Actually, this was the main idea that prompted the developers to create a new search engine. The concept of creating a search engine was proposed by a former employee of Maila named Lavrenko, and it was implemented by Vladimir Chernyshov, a final-year student of Higher Mathematics and Cybernetics at Moscow State University, and others like him. This was in 2004, and already at the beginning of April 2005 the website Nigma.ru was opened.

He looked quite simple then:

However, I share their sense of humor, which prompted me to write the caption “The smartest search engine,” because sometimes I also capture the inscription “The best blog” on screenshots, which sometimes even causes “justifiable” anger in the comments.

Unfortunately, it seems to me that the time to enter the search market was already lost at that time. Nygma's main competitors by this time had already successfully existed and developed for a whole decade. Yandex finally got back on its feet financially, and Google carried out a successful expansion into the Runet search market.

At the beginning, by the way, Nigma had such an advantage over Google as , and could, hypothetically, have dividends from this, using the Google database. But soon the leader of the world search himself became accustomed to Russian morphology and this system no longer had any special trump cards in this aspect.

Its developers had to come up with new features, which eventually became extended hints, identification and highlighting of official sites, special add-ons for search results called Nigma mathematics and chemistry, as well as a separate search for torrent files and music.

The latter is somewhat dissonant with classic search engines, which are trying in every possible way to distance themselves from such slippery, in the sense of, topics. Because there is always a sea of people willing to milk money from fat cows. But in our case, most likely, the “elusive Joe” principle is at work.

If we go in chronological order, then by 2008 the interface changes slightly and the ability to search in Nigma by music, books (in online libraries), and also by pictures (well, more precisely by words in the Alt attribute or standing next to them, rather than just as it is implemented in real). In addition, the ability to use the Aport and Bing index database is added:

Well, in 2010, the appearance of the site takes on its usual appearance, with the exception of the logo, where the Latin spelling of the search engine is still used:

The development of algorithms is still carried out by people related to Moscow State University, and therefore the presence of such tools as mathematics and chemistry in Nigma.ru is understandable and justified. By the way, these are pretty cool things that many schoolchildren and students use successfully.

Nigma Mathematics, Chemistry and Music

Personally, I won’t give you an unambiguous answer as to which side you can safely approach the discriminant from, but my son appreciates the ability to enter an equation or mathematical expression in the address bar (and now in the special “Mathematics” section) and receive not only the answer , but, if desired, and the course of the solution:

As you can see, I used a text description of the equation (by the way, with an error that was corrected without question, since the system has a spell checker built in by default), because , but it’s much more tedious for me to type a formula with special characters.

However, Nigma-mathematics translated my text into a formula without any problems, found the answer and even offered to look at the progress of the solution (I don’t give a screenshot of it, because it’s big):

There you will also be invited to watch a short video with an excursion into mathematics from an intelligent search engine:

Looks even cooler to me Nigma-chemistry, because I studied it thirty years ago and completely forgot, although it was very easy for me then. It is possible to obtain formulas both from inorganic chemistry and partially from organic chemistry (where there is some kind of darkness in general).

Moreover, queries can be stupidly entered in text, for example, like this (an interesting reaction in the stomach can occur):

Nigma music is also no less cool (a special link “Music” is highlighted for it above the search form), because it allows you to find not only a link to a song upon request, but also listen to it in the built-in player, or even download it to your computer:

When listening, you will be able to see the addresses of sites where these musical compositions take place, indicating the bitrate and download links. By the way, if you want to upload your music files, you will need to register, the form of which is located under the left column with filters.

To questions about the violation of the rights of copyright holders, Nigma representatives answer something like that this search for music files, on the contrary, will help these same copyright holders track those who are trampling on their rights. And there is a reasonable grain in this.

Well, it’s clear that search for a torrent file from Nigma will help copyright holders of video and software products to track the sources of violation of their rights. For some reason, they didn’t provide a separate link for browsing torrents, but an advertising banner periodically pops up in the upper right corner of the search results, calling for this type of search to be carried out completely free of charge and without registration.

Although, it’s enough just to enter a request in Nigma’s address bar and add the word “torrent” separated by a space, to get a summary table of all the files found, indicating their name, weight, number of peers and seeds, as well as the addresses of the sites where all this wealth was found.

Nigma.ru search tips and other features

Well, it’s also worth mentioning the slightly unusual search tips in this system. Recently, we have all become accustomed to the fact that the search itself often knows what we want to ask it, and as we enter the query in the line, it offers its own options.

This is convenient, but Nigma went even further and in some cases already in the drop-down list of hints tries to give a short or even detailed answer to the query you enter (and who then will click on contextual advertising from the search results if all search engines implement the same feature):

I typed in the query “capital f”, after which I was shown a drop-down list with a list of all possible states for this letter indicating their capitals (short answer), and when you move the mouse cursor to one of these short answers, you will be shown a more detailed help based on information taken from .

Please note that I received the answer without pressing Enter at all and without seeing the results for this request (and the advertising along with it). I think it's convenient. Sometimes it’s also convenient to get a price range for product requests (prices are taken from Mail’s Products):

This search engine also works great converter various physical quantities, currencies and other nonsense. Moreover, you can type all this in words and even in jargon. Actually, in articles about that, and, I mentioned similar capabilities of Runet leaders.

How do you like this version of the query in Nigma: “how many bunnies are in a buck?” Well, she says there are so many:

You know, quite often it occurs to me to search on the Internet decoding of one or another abbreviation encountered, but in Yandex or Google results you can’t always see this in the snippet and you have to go to sites, search there and spend extra time.

On Nigma.ru everything is implemented in this regard somewhat more conveniently. When you enter an abbreviation in the search bar, you will be able to see its most common decoding in the left column with filters, and under the Abbreviations spoiler you will be able to find rarer versions of this abbreviation:

If the entered query implies as an answer official site, then Nigma.rf marks it in the tips with the corresponding inscription in brackets, and in the search results in front of its title there will be a hand with a raised thumb (not middle) finger:

The features are pretty nice. They would also receive a wide river of cash injections - then this search engine would sparkle with completely different colors (by the way, they were spinning at one time, but then Yandex decided that it was not appropriate to promote a competitor).

In the meantime, all this remains largely unclaimed, because Nigma's share in the Runet search market extremely small (according to statistics):

There are seventy times fewer transitions from this search engine to sites in the ru domain zone than from the not very popular Mail. Its traffic can be indirectly judged by, but it is even less than that of the site (in RuNet this indicator is very relative, because users have very few Alexa toolbars installed) and actually says nothing.

They have plans entering the Vietnam search market, but the itim.vn project is still in development and is available only by invite, as Nigma developers claim. At the same time, the not unknown one, which began its expansion into Vietnam at about the same time, successfully launched its portal Wada.vn.

As for the audience that is inherent in this search engine, due to the presence of Nigma chemistry, mathematics and music services, one could make an assumption about its extremely low average age. However, at the RIF conference, held more than a year ago, a representative of this system spoke (in my opinion, it was Vladimir Chernyshev) and gave a graph of its age audience in comparison with Yandex:

There are no special differences, as we see. The same applies, by the way, to the gender of visitors (about fifty-fifty). This comparison was important for SEOs, who could approximate the statistical data presented below for Nigma on Yandex or Google. In particular, the percentage of different types of requests to their system was given:

And also very interesting data on the distribution of user preferences (CTR) among the first 20 places in the Top:

During one session, a user often clicks on different ads, so the average number of such clicks, as well as the range of positions within which on average these clicks are made, is interesting:

I hope that someone, interested in my description, will pay attention to this search engine, however, in the matter of choosing a “default search”, habit and the presence of little things that have become attached to them often play a primary role. Well, for example, I can’t use Google because they don’t show up there.

It’s nothing, but I’m used to making transitions to familiar sites, which I can easily recognize in Yandex by favicons, and even if you crack...

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site