Hi Larry, I just designed something exactly like this.. it's our first version and it's not perfect, but average users seem to get it well enough and it will only get better as we continue to revise...
Here's the URL for a live implementation: http://opl.bibliocommons.com/search We approached it from the perspective of teaching people a little about the boolean search syntax.. so instead of having a free form search field and a separate form for advanced search we use the form to construct a search string. Anybody that already knows the query syntax can just type their own search into the text box. Another example is the iTunes or Spotlight (on Mac) query builder. You can make some pretty complex conditional queries using nothing but a form. Good Luck! Matt. On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 11:15 AM, Larry King <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Anybody out there ever built a interface that helps users build an advanced > search query? I am currently working on a site that has over 5 million > articles, and search is the primary way users find this information. A lot > of these users are librarians and they know how to do complex Boolean > searches on various meta data fields. Currently, the search engine is > optimized for this type of user, which is completely ignoring the user who > does not know how to construct these complex queries. They have built a .... > > Any body designed something like this, or could point me to some examples of > such an interface? > > Thanks. > > -- > Larry King -- Matt Nish-Lapidus work: [EMAIL PROTECTED] / www.bibliocommons.com -- personal: [EMAIL PROTECTED] twitter: emenel ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
