The beta search engine is up. I have been working long and hard on a revised search engine. There are still some bugs but overall it works much better. Search 345+ , and growing, Abilene business websites. Giv'er a go.

The search engine is a go!
It's updated weekly!
It has indexed over 345 business and organizations pages in the Abilene area!
It searches it's own database directly from this site!
It's maintained by a real person (no spam)!

I have installed a new search engine that will search all of the pages that are linked to on the locallinks page. I have been making a point to reference every business in the area that has a web site. If you have a local business that is not listed or want your sub pages referenced please submit them to me through the "Submit your business" form on the left of this page. At this point it's undergoing development and I'm still adding the sites to be searched, but what isn't in this business. Its always good to hear praise and your suggestions for improvements help as well.

A note on Netscape: You will notice that I often make references to sites that don't work well with Netscape. This is not usually a valid reason to avoid visiting the site. Heck my pages may not look right in Opera or even other versions of Netscape, but I do make an effort. It's not that I don't possess Internet Explorer, I have to in order to check compatiability of my pages, it's just that I think that Microsoft has such a hold on us all right now that everyone deserves to be able to choose. The errors are most often caused by the use of other Microsoft products such as FrontPage Editor , which I use to some extent also, or Microsoft Word HTML publisher to write the pages. This incompatibility issue also will also serve to show the competency of the web master which concerns me when I am entering personal information or my credit card. I read that about 60% of internet users use IE. I compare it to cars somewhat. Just because 60% of the cars on the road are 6ft wide Chevy's we don't need to make the roads 6ft wide, some of us may want to drive fords that are 7ft wide. We can make roads as well as a web that works for everyone while preserving our right to choose.

AbileneMotorSports.com Photos of past events and a discussion group / message board. The question over a new race track is a hot topic in Abilene (or Baird) right now. I really want a track here so I won't make my usual "Doesn't work perfectly in Netscape" comment.

shop-abilene.com 17 advertisers at this point 6 of which are E-commerce sites.

AbileneInfo.com This is a site apparently a product of EllisComp.com Which is seemingly also Abileneisp.com They appear to be developing quite a bit of on-site info but there are still many off site links that are simply framed. Lots of frames, new window pop-up's, only a few bad links, and most of the pages look good in Netscape (maybe just my pet peeve). Even though they are direct competition for me the site seems to be manned by locals that are willing to help and the site has numerous Abilene related listings, therefor are worthy of a mention here. I'm sure I will soon read a scathing review of this site there, hey at least I'll get a link out of it. :)

All kinds of new web sites are popping up in Abilene. There is abilenejobs.com. Not much there as of this posting and the site doesn't look quite right in Netscape.
Another job site is Abilene-jobs.com This is apparently not hosted by anyone locally since it displays jobs from everywhere but abilene. Your probably better off going to the Abilene Reporter News site at this point and simply searching the classifieds.

Car shopping, try BigCountryCars.com. Quite a bit of content and a rather good search engine with advanced search options.

Abilene is on the verge of many new forms of high speed access to the internet. Already Southwestern Bell is providing DSL (digital subscriber line) internet access to individuals. This operates over your existing 2-pair phone wire, giving you your standard phone line and dedicated internet access. Right around the corner is cable modem access from Cox Communication. The local ISP's (internet service provider) are also working on solutions in the form of wireless, I believe. I personally have switched to the DSL service from Southwestern Bell and I must say that I am very happy with it. It is $39 per month altogether and is super fast and always on. I had service with Camalott Communications for many years and really hated to let it go. Their customer support is second to none and there was always a real person to talk to. The speed of my DSL is usually 10 times faster though and I just couldn't resist the change.