Web Application Design Patterns

Chapter 6. Searching and Filtering

Introduction

For web applications of a reasonable size, accessing information only by navigating the application hierarchy can become cumbersome and compromise usability. Therefore, it’s important that information within web applications be made searchable to get users to desired items quickly and efficiently.

Searching can be done either in an unrestricted manner, where users enter their query as a set of keywords or key phrases in a search field (SIMPLE SEARCH), or in a directed and structured manner, where users specify desired values of the item attributes they are searching (PARAMETRIC SEARCH). Simple searches are usually sufficient for most users, but those who have more experience and prefer specifying their ...