On 1/29/07 7:46 PM, "Ryan McKinley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> Your argument is a good one, and I buy it. However, I've never had a >> case where a user typing "multiple words" where the expectation was >> for OR, it is always AND. > > But there are many cases where the expectation is to to get the best > results possible. With AND you get zero results even when there is > stuff that matches half the query.
This is the exact problem with defaulting to an "all terms" match. It leaves users stranded with no hits, and only expert searchers know to try different words or check the spelling. Google uses "all terms" because it saves them thousands of servers by cutting down the match space faster. They make up for the serious usability problems with spelling suggestions. Their solution for spelling suggestions requires LOTS of data, something that very, very few sites have. So even though "Google does it", an AND default is a very bad idea for nearly all sites. wunder -- Walter Underwood Search Guru, Netflix
