SortFix is an interesting search engine which combines visual search and drag’n’drop baskets to help the user refine their search experience. The concept is well explained with the home page video and SortFix FAQ.
Search is initially based on a standard search bar into which the user enters keywords to search. SortFix searches Google, Yahoo and DMOZ for these search terms. SortFix then provides suggested additional keywords ‘Power Words‘ to assist in narrowing the search query. Power Words are suggested keywords which help full-question queries yield more accurate and relevant results.
The user decides which ’Power Words’ are relevant to the search and which ones are definitely not. Drag and drop the relevant ’Power Words’ to the ‘Add to Search’ basket and drag the irrelevant words to the ‘Remove from Search’ basket. Then click search to see your refined search results. Any ‘power word’ which requires further defining can be dragged to the ‘dictionary’ box and a short and accurate definition is displayed.
I typed in “asthma” as my search term. The initial search result returned 4,5000,000 results. The Power Word suggestions helped me to refine my initial search with diagnosis, management, research, hospital and treatment options. After a minute of refining I was able to reduce the search results to 23 – of which 21 were relevant.
In addition to the basic interface SortFix offers an array of “Expert” options for the advanced user, including synonym (and/or) searches and a “query tree” which displays search history.
SortFix is in its early stage of development and constantly improving – but it is certainly a fun and entertaining way to perform a basic search. Overall I found this a useful addition to the search paradigm and will certainly be trying the more advanced features next.
Source: sandnsurf
…and now a special Christmas greeting from SortFix:
Caronte Web
Federated Search
Highlight Health
MSearchGroove
Ramenos Blog
Reel SEO
Software Abstractions
The Genius Files
The Next Web