Resumé:
Findfast can search by text input and/or by mouse click on icons and maps.
Here the principle is described, based on the example of a Findfast
supported accommodation catalogue with about 400 entries to be searched by A
location name,
B accommodation name,
C accommodation type (hotel, B&B, etc.),
D tourism area,
E county,
F price range
C and D and E and F can be combined to narrow the search.
Other possible combinations are implemented but not used as long as the database
is small.
Technically the purpose of search is to identify the unique names of .TXT
files that contain the listings to be displayed.
Options A and B - Search by name (text input) "Keyword Guessing".
A and B expect the viewer to enter the first 3 letters of a word contained
in the name.
The process is the same for A and B. When search by location name (A) is
selected a list of all first letters of location names known in the directory is
displayed.
It displays and so on. This is not
the entire alphabet as no Irish town name begins with X.
Text input by clicking one of these images or by hitting a key. Here input is
not case sensitive. Case sensitivity and function key input is possible.
When the first letter is entered the program checks it against an array
containing all possible first 3 letters of location names known in the directory
and overwrites the images of the letters with the list of possible second
letters. On input of the second letter a list of possible third letters is
offered.
A location name can consist of more than one word, for instance Carrig Island.
It is found on input of CAR
or ISL
On unacceptable key input an error message is displayed.
On input of the third letter a list of all known location names is displayed,
for instance A Bere Island
B Carrig Island
C Castleisland
D Valentia Island
The letters A B C D overwrite the previous list. selects Castleisland.
Hitting the escape key or clicking on starts
the next phase.
The program will in this case display a list of all known accommodations in the
city of Castleisland and in villages nearby. To do so it looks for the sequence Isl
(for ISLAND) in a
particular location of a 3-dimensional array and - when found - creates a list
of the contents of another location in the same array. This list is subdivided
into groups. Group size is arbitrary. The rule is: Larger groups for smaller
listings, smaller groups for larger listings, whatever is most convenient for
the viewers.
Obviously this process is fast because it runs entirely in the viewer's CPU.
Chapter 5 shows how to calculate speed in relation to database size for
full-text search and Findfast search.
The next phase is display of the listings. The menu offers a button to click on
for every group of listings. Associated with each button is a list of text file
names copied from the 3-dimensional array when the search was performed.
When one of the buttons is clicked a dynamic HTML page is loaded into which the
text files - each one a HTML table - are copied.
Options C to F - Search by mouse click (without text input)
Text input is error prone; it should be avoided as far as possible.
Clicking on icons (pictograms) is more convenient for the user, needs less
explanation, lets the program run faster because it reduces the initial tree
steps of text input to one.
Using icons offers the additional advantage that the user can search for
icons contained in the Listings.
Icons are created to symbolize subjects a viewer can specify:
Icons to search a catalogue of sport equipment.
Options
E and F - Search by county and price range
The county is selected first. When the cursor is moved over a county with
listings the name appears here.
A click selects the county. Only price range icons valid for the selected county
are offered.
Viewers can select All price ranges in a selected county or a chosen
price range in all counties. Other accommodation directory publishers might
prefer stars in lieu of price range icons.
The same procedure applies to Options D and E.
The difference:
An accommodation type is selected first by clicking on an icon, then a tourism
area is selected (ignoring county boundaries). If no accommodation is listed for
a tourism area, a list of all entries in the area is generated.
2
When a viewer has only a vague idea of what terms to use
a special type of click-on maps can be the answer:
A hierarchy of exploded drawings.
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A
location name,
and so on. This is not
the entire alphabet as no Irish town name begins with X.
starts
the next phase.
Options
Virtual
Site Map