> > I work for a consortium of 30 libraries. Each library has their own > website, but they all share the same web catalog. On each library's website > there is a search box to search the catalog, which is on a completely > different server from the websites. We've been finding that once people use > that search box, they get distracted with the catalog and have no easy way > to get back to the library's website. The problem I was tasked with is, > coming up with a way to search the catalog with an easy way to return to > where the user was before they initiated the search. > > The only way I thought to do this was to use a frameset for the search > results. Which, you can see here: > > http://beta.menashalibrary.org/sites/beta.menashalibrary.org/themes/salamander/searchframe.html > > If anyone has any ideas, other than using frames for the results, I'd love > to hear them. The problem is, there's nothing I can do on the web catalog > end. > > - jody Easiest solution - Open the search page in a new window. Then they can just close it to get back to the previous window... I now understand what you're trying to say in regards to the frames. The top frame resides completely on your server so you can place a "Go back to homepage" link to direct people back to YOUR libraries homepage. And the bottom frame contains the search results page that you have no control over and cannot alter to simply place a "Home" link on it. And that should remain since the global search results page is accessed by multiple libraries. Like I said above, the easiest thing to do is just open it in a seperate window so they can close it at any time and still be at the same place on your libraries website.
