A selection-based search system is a
search engine
A search engine is a software system that provides hyperlinks to web pages, and other relevant information on World Wide Web, the Web in response to a user's web query, query. The user enters a query in a web browser or a mobile app, and the sea ...
system in which the user invokes a
search query using only the
mouse
A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...
.
A selection-based search system allows the user to search the internet for more information about any
keyword or phrase contained within a document or webpage in any software application on their desktop computer using the mouse.
Traditional browser-based search systems require the user to launch a
web browser
A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scr ...
, navigate to a search page, type or paste a query into a
search box, review a list of results, and click a
hyperlink
In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference providing direct access to Data (computing), data by a user (computing), user's point and click, clicking or touchscreen, tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to ...
to view these results. Three characteristic features of a selection-based search system are that the user can invoke search using only their mouse from within the context of any application on their desktop (for example
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office, MS Office, or simply Office, is an office suite and family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. The first version of the Office suite, announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at CO ...
,
Adobe Reader
Adobe Acrobat is a family of application software and web services developed by Adobe Inc. to view, create, manipulate, print and manage Portable Document Format (PDF) files.
The family comprises Acrobat Reader (formerly Reader), Acrobat (former ...
,
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements curren ...
, etc.), receive categorized suggestions which are based on the context of the user-selected text (or in some cases the
wisdom of crowds), and view the results in floating information boxes which can be sized, shared, docked, closed and stacked on top of the document that has the user’s primary focus.
In its simplest form, selection-based search enables users to launch a search query by selecting text on any application on their desktop. It is commonly believed that selection-based search lowers the user barrier to search and permits an incremental number of searches per user per day.
[Steve Lawrence; C. Lee Giles]
Accessibility of information on the web
''Nature (journal)'', 1999. Selection-based search systems also operate on the premise that users value information in context. They may save the user from having to juggle multiple applications, multiple web browsers or use multiple search engines separately.
[Mark Zachry and Charlotte Thralls]
An interview with Edward R. Tufte
''Technical Communication Quarterly'', 2004.
The term selection-based search is frequently used to classify a set of search engine systems, including a desktop client and a series of
cloud computing
Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to International Organization for ...
services, but is also used to describe the paradigm of categorizing a keyword and searching multiple data sources using only the mouse. The National Information Standards Organization (
NISO) uses the terms selection-based search and mouse-based search interchangeably to describe this web search paradigm.
Operation
Selection-based search systems create what is known as a semantic database of trained terms. They do not compile a physical
database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...
or catalogue of the web on the users' desktop computer. Instead, they take a user's selected keyword or keywords, pass it to several
heterogeneous
Homogeneity and heterogeneity are concepts relating to the uniformity of a substance, process or image. A homogeneous feature is uniform in composition or character (i.e., color, shape, size, weight, height, distribution, texture, language, i ...
online
cloud services
Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to ISO.
Essential characteristics ...
, categorize the keyword(s), and then compile the results in a
homogeneous
Homogeneity and heterogeneity are concepts relating to the uniformity of a substance, process or image. A homogeneous feature is uniform in composition or character (i.e., color, shape, size, weight, height, distribution, texture, language, i ...
manner based on a specific
algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of Rigour#Mathematics, mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algo ...
.
[The Click Heard Round The World](_blank)
''Wired (journal)'', 1993.
No two selection-based search systems are alike. Some simply provide a list of links in a
context menu
A context menu (also called contextual, shortcut, and pop up or pop-up menu) is a menu in a graphical user interface (GUI) that appears upon user interaction, such as a right-click mouse operation. A context menu offers a limited set of choic ...
to other websites, such as the proposed
Internet Explorer 8 Accelerators feature. Others only allow the user to search their desktop files such as
Macintosh Spotlight, or to search a popular search engine such as
Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
or
Yahoo!
Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, and its a ...
, while others only search lesser-known search engines,
newsgroup
A Usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system for messages posted from users in different locations using the Internet. They are not only discussion groups or conversations, but also a repository to publish articles, start ...
s, and more specialized databases. Selection-based search systems also differ in how the results are presented and the quality of semantic categorization which is used. Some will open links to content in a new browser window. Others return content in floating information boxes which can be sized, shared, docked, etc.
A key challenge for selection-based search is that a long or nested list of categories quickly becomes unwieldy for the user. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the selection-based search system to both categorize the user-selected text and to identify those online services which most naturally apply to the selected text. For example, when the user selects an address, the system needs to identify the address as most suitable for an online mapping service such as
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panorama, interactive panoramic views of streets (Google Street View, Street View ...
. When the user selects a movie title, the system needs to identify the selection as suitable for a movie database such as
Internet Movie Database
IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
. When the user selects the name of a company, the system needs to identify the concordant stock symbol and an appropriate financial database such as
Yahoo! Finance
Yahoo Finance is a media property that is part of the Yahoo network. It provides financial news, data and commentary including stock quotes, press releases, financial reports, and original content. It also offers online tools for personal fin ...
.
Quality of results
Usability can vary widely between selection-based search systems relying on a large number of variables. Even the most basic selection-based search systems will allow more of the web to be searched by the user in the context of their work than any one stand-alone search engine. On the other hand, the process is sometimes said to be redundant if the system applies no intelligence to categorizing the selected text and matching it to an online service, and simply provides a link for the user to their preferred search engine(s).
See also
: ''For cloud computing services used by selection-based search systems, see the
list of search engines
Search engines, including web search engines, selection-based search engines, metasearch engines, desktop search tools, and web portals and vertical market websites have a search facility for online databases.
By content/topic
General ...
''
*
Accelerator in Internet Explorer 8
*
Microsoft Smart Tags
*
Yahoo! Search selection-based search
*
Macintosh Spotlight
References
External links
Much Ado About Smart TagsProfessor Edward Tufte on the value of information in context{{Internet search
Internet search engines