[IxDA Discuss] Designing complex search pages

[SPatrick at amig.com]

[Please voluntarily trim replies to include only relevant quoted material.]
Hi, Susan,

I'm wondering: was the decision to make certain fields required based
on a limitation of the database performance? I admit that I don't
have what you've asked for: an industry standard method for handling
your complex search, but I think that's mostly because it's rare that
I see a Search mechanism with strict requirements like that.

*It's not due to database performance, but we're building it quickly (no
column sorting) and the potential is there for it to return 14,000 rows if
we don't force limitations. This was a business decision.

Is there any way I can convince you to loosen up the search page so
that a person is encouraged to enter search terms using a more
natural language (e.g., assuming you're dealing with cars: "1993 jeep
cherokee")? On the Results page, you can introduce some filtering
options there... maybe, as Austin suggested, a dropdown for the Make,
which would drive the dropdown for the model. Maybe get all fancy
with a slider bar for the year so that people can look for a range of
years, if they're not certain of the year.

*I would love to be able to do something like this!!!! Maybe in my next
job.

My solution so far:
Line of Business*
Year**
Make**
Model**

*Required
**At least 2 of these fields are Required


It's clunky, and ugly, but the users understood it in a prototype, so it's
a start!



Susan Patrick
User Interface Designer
The Midland Company
(513) 947-6072

"Design is a process - an intimate collaboration between engineers,
designers, and clients." - Henry Dreyfuss, Industrial Designer


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