Abstract:
Users with slow internet connections experience slow retrieval
of results in web catalogues. JavaScript search engines can be used to enable
client side search, reducing the load on the server, and increasing the response
time. However, it is not a popular method until now, because of various reasons
including limitation of number of data objects and lengthier response time for
the first search. Here the author suggests negotiating the issue of response
delay with the user. This would enable high speed basic search in small
catalogues, usually with less than 300 data objects. Larger catalogues can be
divided into smaller ones. Special or rare collections, multimedia artifacts and
subject (web) directories are prospective candidates for this type of search
systems. A prototype catalogue of ‘Sri Lankan Web Sites’ was tested in
www.srilankasupersearch.com. Users’ behavior and response to the system is
yet to be studied.
