Written by: Chris Chodnicki 3/25/2008 11:20 PM
We tend to be habitual in our use of the internet. Searching the internet has been relatively the same for years. We hardly question the process or the 'secret sauce' search engines use to rank results. Type the phrase, get results. Scan those lists and descriptions looking for clues and click on the first or most interesting link. Read the page and return to the original search result to repeat. Been there and done that a thousand times. I am sure that Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are going to enhance their process soon because there are is a new paradigm being introduced: Visual Search Engines. Ask.com is an example of an out of the box approach to search results that I really like. Ask.com results include more relative information including search trend statistics and the ability to preview the page by hovering over an icon. These features save time and enhance the search experience. Then there is a whole new shift in visual search with a rich internet application called SearchMe. Built using Adobe Flex and available as a free download, Searchme is a visual search engine that display results using images that can quickly be navigated and even categorized. Similar to the iTunes / iPhone interface, the rich internet application SearchMe was built using the Adobe Flex. Check out the videos below to see how SearchMe works.
We tend to be habitual in our use of the internet. Searching the internet has been relatively the same for years. We hardly question the process or the 'secret sauce' search engines use to rank results. Type the phrase, get results. Scan those lists and descriptions looking for clues and click on the first or most interesting link. Read the page and return to the original search result to repeat. Been there and done that a thousand times.
I am sure that Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are going to enhance their process soon because there are is a new paradigm being introduced: Visual Search Engines.
Ask.com is an example of an out of the box approach to search results that I really like. Ask.com results include more relative information including search trend statistics and the ability to preview the page by hovering over an icon. These features save time and enhance the search experience.
Then there is a whole new shift in visual search with a rich internet application called SearchMe. Built using Adobe Flex and available as a free download, Searchme is a visual search engine that display results using images that can quickly be navigated and even categorized. Similar to the iTunes / iPhone interface, the rich internet application SearchMe was built using the Adobe Flex. Check out the videos below to see how SearchMe works.