Searching Issues

• Phrase Searching

  • Names and common phrases often wanted

  • Do not limit to only exact phrase matching

• Internet Query Operators: + and -, quotes ("")

• Boolean AND, OR and NOT

• Automatic Synonyms ("Thesaurus"

  • Alternate spellings: color & colour, super bowl & superbowl, 40 & fourty

  • Technical terms: hives vs. urticaria

  • Synonyms: table settings vs. tableware

• Speed & Caching

  • Even big results should return a whole page in 5 seconds or less.

  • Simplify results page layout for fast rendering

  • Overbuild for the current need - sites always grow

  • Think about scalability & multiple servers

  • Common searches ("Pamela Anderson") may be cached for faster response