search-results-example

From Microformats

Table of contents

Search Results - Examples

This page captures common patterns in the return of search results.

The Problem

Many web sites, particularly search engines, return a partial "window" in a much larger dataset of results. We'd like to figure out the optimal way to represent that. Note that this is also the goal of the OpenSearch Response (http://opensearch.a9.com/spec/opensearchresponse/1.1/) specification, but at this point they don't seem to have specified HTML encodings. In fact, such an encoding is a likely outcome of this effort.

Participants

  • Dr. Ernie
  • Dimitri Glazkov

Real-World Examples

Links to public web pages, either popular or insightful

Pagination Patterns

Use the [ http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/types.html#type-links HTML] <link rel="prev" /> and <link rel="next" /> for navigation.

Ruby on Rails

The default list view is a table of size 10:

Header

 <table>
   <tr>
     <th>-ent</th>...

Body

  <tr class="vcard"> 
    <td class="-ent">2</td>

[only after I modified it]

Footer

  <a href="/users/list?page=2">Next page</a> 

OpenSearch

 <opensearch:searchTerms>New York City History</opensearch:searchTerms>
 <opensearch:totalResults>4230000</opensearch:totalResults>
 <opensearch:startIndex>21</opensearch:startIndex>
 <opensearch:itemsPerPage>10</opensearch:itemsPerPage>


rel="alternate" – the same page of search results, in a alternate format

Example: <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://example.com/New+York+City+History?pw=3&format=html"/>

rel="start" – the first page of search results

Note: This value is pending IETF registration. Example: <link rel="start" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://example.com/New+York+City+History?pw=1&format=rss"/>

rel="previous" – the previous page of search results

Note: This value is pending IETF registration. Example: <link rel="previous" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://example.com/New+York+City+History?pw=2&format=rss"/>

rel="self" – this page of search results

Example: <link rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://example.com/New+York+City+History?pw=3&format=rss"/>

rel="next" – the next page of search results

Note: This value is pending IETF registration. Example: <link rel="next" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://example.com/New+York+City+History?pw=4&format=rss"/>

rel="end" – the last page of search results

Note: This value is pending IETF registration. Example: <link rel="end" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://example.com/New+York+City+History?pw=42299&format=rss"/>

rel="description" – the location of the OpenSearch Description document

Note: This value is pending IETF registration. Example: <link rel="description" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="http://example.com/opensearchdescription.xml"/>


Google (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=microformats&btnG=Google+Search)

Header:

<font size=-1 color=>Results <b>1</b> - <b>10</b> of about <b>398,000</b> for <b><b>microformats</b></b>.
(<b>0.09</b> seconds) </font>

Item:

<!--a--><div><p class=g><!--m--><a href="http://microformats.org/"><b>microformats</b></a><br>
<font size=-1>Tantek reports about the <b>microformats</b> lab at FOOCamp, with Dave McClure <b>...</b><br>
On Friday night, Kevin and I did an impromptu talk on <b>microformats</b> at BarCamp. <b>...</b>
<br><font color=#008000><b>microformats</b>.org/ -  30k -  Oct 15, 2005 - </font><nobr>
<a class=fl href="http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:dKjN6x57zdYJ:microformats.org/+microformats&hl=en">Cached</a>
- <a class=fl href="/search?hl=en&lr=&q=related:microformats.org/">Similar pages</a></nobr></font><!--n-->

Footer:

<table border=0 cellpadding=0 width=1% cellspacing=0 align=center><tr align=center valign=top>
<td valign=bottom nowrap>
<font size=-1>Result Page: </font>
<td nowrap><img src=/nav_first.gif width=18 height=26 alt=""><br>
<td nowrap><img src=/nav_current.gif width=16 height=26 alt=""><br><span class=i>1</span>
<td nowrap><a href=/search?q=microformats&hl=en&lr=&start=10&sa=N><img src=/nav_page.gif width=16 height=26 alt="" border=0><br>2</a>
<td nowrap><a href=/search?q=microformats&hl=en&lr=&start=20&sa=N><img src=/nav_page.gif width=16 height=26 alt="" border=0><br>3</a>
<td nowrap><a href=/search?q=microformats&hl=en&lr=&start=30&sa=N><img src=/nav_page.gif width=16 height=26 alt="" border=0><br>4</a>
<td nowrap><a href=/search?q=microformats&hl=en&lr=&start=40&sa=N><img src=/nav_page.gif width=16 height=26 alt="" border=0><br>5</a>
<td nowrap><a href=/search?q=microformats&hl=en&lr=&start=50&sa=N><img src=/nav_page.gif width=16 height=26 alt="" border=0><br>6</a>
<td nowrap><a href=/search?q=microformats&hl=en&lr=&start=60&sa=N><img src=/nav_page.gif width=16 height=26 alt="" border=0><br>7</a>
<td nowrap><a href=/search?q=microformats&hl=en&lr=&start=70&sa=N><img src=/nav_page.gif width=16 height=26 alt="" border=0><br>8</a>
<td nowrap><a href=/search?q=microformats&hl=en&lr=&start=80&sa=N><img src=/nav_page.gif width=16 height=26 alt="" border=0><br>9</a>
<td nowrap><a href=/search?q=microformats&hl=en&lr=&start=90&sa=N><img src=/nav_page.gif width=16 height=26 alt="" border=0><br>10</a>
<td nowrap nowrap><a href=/search?q=microformats&hl=en&lr=&start=10&sa=N>
<img src=/nav_next.gif width=100 height=26 alt="" border=0><br><span class=b>Next</span></a></table>

[Example #2 (url)]

pre
 escaped <tags>

Existing Practices

  • Summary of common patterns discovered
  • Other attempts to solve The Problem

Proposal

  • Early drafts
  • Link to related pages as they become available
    • -brainstorming
    • - proposal
    • -microformat

See Also

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