Great search engine, mediocre user interface?
Most image search engine software tries to connect images with results using a sophisticated relevance scoring approach, but fail to provide a useful interface to the user. All too often, a great deal of effort is required on the part of the user to supply simple search refinements.
A better solution should make the user interface smarter, so that all of the possible power of the search engine is available to the user without excessive keyboard inputs.
Image Search Suggestions
Third Light IMS v6.0 comes with a brand new search engine interface which adapts as you use it, offering suggestions about related keywords (or other metadata) in a panel to the right of the search results.
The suggestions in the panel are based on files that share some of the same metadata as the main search results, and are designed to give you more possible search ideas and a point-and-click interface to continue exploring.
To make this interface as powerful as possible, the search engine looks at a wide range of possible search suggestions and decides which give the best possible refinements of your results.
This is one of the most innovative and smart new features in version 6, so we’ve produced a video to show you how it works.
Video of Third Light Image Search Engine
Faceted Search
Even if you have a significant number of customised fields, the intelligent choices made by the search engine will give you a manageable set of search suggestions. The changing interface is known as ‘faceting’, where IMS will update and revise the information you see according the search you perform.
Even though it is significantly more advanced than previous generations of image search, the new Third Light search system provides a completely point-and-click search system. Our aim is that you won’t need a keyboard when you refine search terms, because IMS will suggest the filters to you, with intelligence built-in.
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