26. A computer system comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having instructions stored therein which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: receive results of a search of data distributed among a plurality of computers on a network, the results corresponding to user-provided search criteria, the results including a plurality of hypertext documents; refine said results of the first search based on relevance of each of the hypertext documents to the user-provided search criteria by performing a content examination of the results of the search; rank the plurality of hypertext documents based on results of the content examination; generate a map of the hypertext documents based on the ranking, wherein each of the hypertext documents is represented on the display device as one of a plurality of objects; and cause the map to be displayed on a display device, such that the map visually indicates logical links between hypertext documents, wherein the map includes an arrangement of objects having a three-dimensional appearance, such that a visual indication of the ranking comprises an apparent relative positioning of the objects in each of the three dimensions.
26. A computer system comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having instructions stored therein which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: receive results of a search of data distributed among a plurality of computers on a network, the results corresponding to user-provided search criteria, the results including a plurality of hypertext documents; refine said results of the first search based on relevance of each of the hypertext documents to the user-provided search criteria by performing a content examination of the results of the search; rank the plurality of hypertext documents based on results of the content examination; generate a map of the hypertext documents based on the ranking, wherein each of the hypertext documents is represented on the display device as one of a plurality of objects; and cause the map to be displayed on a display device, such that the map visually indicates logical links between hypertext documents, wherein the map includes an arrangement of objects having a three-dimensional appearance, such that a visual indication of the ranking comprises an apparent relative positioning of the objects in each of the three dimensions. 28. A computer system according to claim 26, wherein the plurality of hypertext documents are referenced by a plurality of links, and wherein the plurality of hypertext documents comprises a plurality of World Wide Web pages.