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In lugnet.admin.database, dulcaoin@alumni.cse.ucsc.edu (Joshua Delahunty)
writes:
> Larry Answered:
> ------
> In another thread we're talking about not confusing the mundanes. If I
> were a mundane I would NOT know that there were three voltages and it
> would be best if there were a way that selecting trains returned all
> trains regardless of voltage.
> ------
>
> This is an important point. Unfortunately, my solution doesn't
> really address it. The "front page" solution would allow Trainheads to
> view the entire trains range in one place, but it doesn't support the
> many folks who might type "trains" into the search box, either directly
> on LUGNET or from myriad other contact points from around the web.
Yeah, that's no fun, is it. I think what ought to happen when you type
"trains" into a top-level search box is that you get back a number of train
categories (one encapsulating all, and then one for each of 9v, 4.5v, 12v,
and DUPLO trains, etc.) and probably also optionally some actual set
matches, unless there are too many (more than some threshold). Of course,
you also ought to be able to "browse down into" these categories manually.
> A stopgap that I'd like to see implemented that might just address this
> would look something like:
>
> Search as you do now, examine the results.
>
> If there are less than <threshhold> matches at <threshhold percentage>
> or greater, then:
> Add to the search all records matched by using the typed expression as
> a word-match on product-line or theme names.
>
> Where <threshhold> might be 5, and <threshhold percentage> might be .9
> or .95 or even 1.0.
>
> So if someone types "trains", the initial (current) search would return
> 31 matches, the best being only at 83%. So you'd then search again
> (since you didn't get -- say -- 5 matches at 90% or greater), adding in
> any additional records where the product-line or theme contains the term
> "trains". In this particular case, you'd end up with all the train sets
> (including DUPLO trains). (I'm actually a little surprised that product
> lines and themes aren't searched as-is in this type of search).
>
> Another workaround (good only for already expert Trainheads who only
> just want to see all trains in one listing) is to allow regular
> expressions in the ?theme= specification when searching.
Joshua,
Those all sound great -- but hold those thoughts -- time is best spent
working toward the new interface rather than improving the old interface in
ways that the new one will cover anyway. That is, it's better to codify
those kinds of "smarts" into areas that'll be generalizable for any kind of
data rather than into something specifically oriented towards sets.
Keep in mind, the searching and cross-link interface which sits atop the
current Pause DB was added to a collection of static data files as an
afterthought. All of the code changes therein have been incremental in
nature, knowing at each step that it was all "throwaway code" to be replaced
by a totally different and more integrated system later.
So although incremental changes do add value, they ultimately delay the
"real" interface just that much more each time. If you wanna hack some code
and write some thresholding stuff that makes searching for trains nicer, we
can talk about that, but even there, I'd probably rather encourage you
toward design prototyping on the future interface and not toward improving
the existing one.
--Todd
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: 12V train early 70th
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| <snipped workarounds for Pause Trains overview problem> (...) <snip> (...) Hey, I'm just trying to keep "Uncle Lare" happy. :-) I can wait for the real thing, but can other folks? I _would_ like to see to Product Line and Theme names incorporated (...) (25 years ago, 31-Mar-99, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.admin.database)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: 12V train early 70th
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| (...) Nope. I mean (URL) (...) Larry Answered: ------ In another thread we're talking about not confusing the mundanes. If I were a mundane I would NOT know that there were three voltages and it would be best if there were a way that selecting (...) (25 years ago, 28-Mar-99, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.admin.database)
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