Implementation of web product search engine (part I)

Abstract

Online shopping is becoming increasingly popular with easy access to the

internet. Compared to a traditional retail store, it provides many advantages

for both retailers and consumers.

Traditional product search methods are limited to category and text searches.

Having the ability to perform an image search and even combine it with other

search methods will allow users to easily find their desired products. As the

initial search will not always return the desired results, search refining options

will be required to refine the search results.

The purpose of this project is to improve on a visual-based web product

search engine with a focus on website user interface design and extending

the search functionalities.

A web service was improved to provide combination of search methods and

provide search refining options. The options include product attributes, colour,

text and ordering of search results. A user interface to utilise the web service

was developed with ease of use and being minimalistic in mind. This allows

users to easily access information that they are most interested in and having

the information presented without clutter.

The website is ensured to be functional across all modern browsers and to

have basic functionalities even when JavaScript or CSS is disabled. This

gives users a consistent experience regardless of their choice of browser. It

also ensures that no user is excluded if JavaScript or CSS is not available

and gives an enhanced experience to those that have it.

Going forward, caching and load balancing can be implemented as the

website traffic increases to maintain the same standard of performance.

Mobile applications for the website can be developed to utilise the camera

and native user interface to give the user a better experience. Connecting the

web service to social networking services can give the website a greater

exposure and data mining can help to improve the user experience.