Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Attractive Open Source Search Interfaces?

Posted by timothy on from the you'll-have-this-ansi-terminal-and-like-it dept.

An anonymous reader writes "I work for a company that manages an online database for the political market. We add to this DB daily with updates from a variety of sources and our customers then search through this content via our Solr/Lucene search engine. My problem is, our search interface is a little, well, basic and I would love to know if there are any feature-rich open source alternatives out there. The only one I can find is Flamenco, and while that seems strong on categorisation, that seems to be about the height of it."

14 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. Sphinx Search by neoform · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Sphinx Search works quite well, is very fast and can handle very large datasets.. Only down side is the indexes are not live.. http://www.sphinxsearch.com/

    --
    MABASPLOOM!
    1. Re:Sphinx Search by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In fact, Sphinx is used on Slashdot ...

      That's really not the glowing recommendation you thought it would be...

    2. Re:Sphinx Search by prestomation · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Right. Slashdot search is HORRIBLE. I've better luck finding old articles with Google

    3. Re:Sphinx Search by Larryish · · Score: 2, Funny

      Slashdot's search app isn't called Sphinx, it is named Sphincter.

  2. KISS by Mr.+Sketch · · Score: 3, Insightful


        <input type="text" name="q" title="Enter your search terms" />
        <input type="submit" value="Search" title="Submit your search request" />
    </form>

    Anything more complex will probably aggravate your users.

    --
    Things you think are in the Constitution, but are not.
    1. Re:KISS by shish · · Score: 3, Insightful

      My point is that it works for google and google allows advanced queries very nicely

      Google also has hundreds of the world's best computer scientists working on natural language parsing techniques, and they still need a load of documentation saying "if you want to use this function, please type your query according to this specific format" (which is no better than having separate input boxes IMO; in fact for the advanced search that's exactly what they do)

      --
      I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
    2. Re:KISS by Hurricane78 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      KISS is retarded. Because simplicity does not always equal efficiency. Efficiency equals efficiency. Plain KISS makes you end up with stuff that is too “simple” to be useful, like Clippy, MS Bob, or Notepad. The other extreme is just as stupid, and gives you things like VI and Emacs, with a wall as a learning “curve”.

      The optimum is obvious: Balanced in the middle, relative to the user’s needs. More power when he needs it, less complexity when he doesn’t.

      I, for one, don’t call anything that does not at least have boolean operations, property fields (like “site:slashdot.org”) and regular expressions a search that fits my needs and level of power.

      Are people who want less somehow better? Or why are they preferred?
      Rhetorical question. I know why they are preferred: Because they are louder, and think they are entitled to get it pre-chewed.

      Also, what is the point of allowing only one way? Nobody is better.
      Add a multiple-choice element, that lets you choose plain text, boolean-enhanced (like google) and full regexps. Makes everyone happy, hurts nobody.

      Maybe next time you don’t apply KISS to your method of searching for a solution. :)

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  3. How about Sphider? by pbulteel73 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I found Sphider and it fulfills my needs. -P

  4. Yahoo IBM OmniFind Product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Free solution from Yahoo/IBM -- http://omnifind.ibm.yahoo.net/

  5. Re:Windows Live Search is free!!!! by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Contrary to popular belief, Ask Slashdot, even when asking questions about Open Source free alternatives, is not an open invitation to bash Microsoft.
    Please rephrase your comment in the form of something helpful.

    We express our sincerest apologies for the confusion.

    Anonymously,

    Mr. Coward

  6. Swish-E by ccandreva · · Score: 2, Informative

    I've used Swish in it's variants since it was an alternative to WAIS.

    http://www.swish-e.org/

  7. Re:Windows Live Search is free!!!! by mustafap · · Score: 3, Funny

    >I just wish there was a button labeled "Complain to Windows development about this feature and why it sucks".

    There is, it's the "Buy" button next to a Mac on the Apple website.

    Wish I had the money to burn for one of those babies

    --
    Open Source Drum Kit, LPLC deve board - mjhdesigns.com
  8. What sort of database? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Are you talking about searching web pages or a database and presenting the results as web pages? If the latter, then wht's the database?

  9. Re:Why bother with open source? by khellendros1984 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I wouldn't say that GIMP is more complex than Photoshop. I've tried using Photoshop, and it looks like an unorganized muddle of garbage to me. I *get* GIMP, though.

    Linux is just another Unix, but thankfully, a bit more modern and progressive than many of the others. It's as complex as it needs to be, and no more....that's not taking into account the various windowing environments of various qualities (although Windows 7's interface reminds me more of Gnome than it does Windows XP, somehow).

    Then again, maybe I'm weird. My two cents.

    --
    It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.