Sputtr.com seems to sputter a bit

What do people mean when they talk about Web 2.0?

Mainly, that term refers to the general evolution of Web sites toward faster, slicker and more customizable arrays of information. Think of Zillow.com and all the quick data you can pull from it… that’s an example of Web 2.0.

A search engine that’s maybe trying too hard to be Web 2.0 is sputtr.com.

It’s a startup search site with a wild and arresting design. Up on top is the main search window. Under it are 36 large buttons, 35 of which are direct links to well-traveled Web sites. The 36th button lets you suggest more sites for sputtr site managers to add in the future.

You plug in a search term or phrase in the search window, then decide which button you’ll use. You can click the tried-and-true buttons (Google, Yahoo, Live Search) or you can use assorted other buttons that plug your search into other specialized sites. Among those are Slashdot.org, YouTube and some we haven’t heard of. Like Blinklist and Dailymotion.

Sputtr’s upside is you have a one-stop place to search across a broad stretch of the Web. The downside: Each search renders results in a redirected page at that other site. It would be much simpler if the results were loaded in an accompanying frame of sputtr.

That forces you to step forward and back to keep trying new searches.

Another shortcoming, at least for now: One can’t do a search using multiple sites in one swoop.

Still, sputtr is fairly innovative and is worth watching.