James Benson wrote:
Not sure about the numbers but soundex could be useful
http://php.net/soundex
right and maybe its easier to just index thing like '5.11' as
'511' - ie just stripping off everything not alphanumeric ...
amnd doing the same with whatever people search on. I have used
a similar technique to make it easier to search for text/words that
contains letters with diacrites (e.g. 'e acute' becomes a plain 'e')
and never underestimate a users ability to start writing about eating
dessert in the desert, no doubt they had sandcakes. ;-)
James
Chris W. Parker wrote:
Hello,
On my site right now if someone searches for "511" (a misspelling of the
manufacturer 5.11) they are not presented with the right products
because 511 is not found anywhere in the database.
I've got a few ideas on how to solve this but I want to find one that
requires as little administrative overhead as possible.
1. I could add a field to the db for each product that would be used for
associated words for a product as well as misspellings.
PROS: Very customizable on an individual product level.
CONS: Would need to be updated for each and every product individually.
2. Make a field for each manufacturer's record for alternate
spellings/keywords.
PROS: Little administrative overhead.
CONS: Is only manufacturer name based and could not account for specific
products.
3. Both #1 and #2.
PROS: Flexible.
CONS: Lots of administrative overhead.
4. A one-to-many table that associates individual words with product
skus. This one is pretty much the opposite of #1 with one key
difference: the interface. It would be probably be easier to enter a
desired word and then choose each sku from a multi-select dropdown than
it would be to go from product to product entering one word at a time.
5. I'm not sure how this would be accomplished from a technical
standpoint but it would be nice to have the program know that when
someone types in "511" they really meant "5.11". Or (hopefully this
isn't a bad example) if they type in "dessert" (as in cake and icecream)
they really meant "desert" (as in snakes and sand).
In my case that wouldn't be a bad assumption since our site will never
contain the word desert unless it's a misspelling.
What does everyone think? What other options are out there?
Chris.
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