Faceted Browser

The Repertoire faceted browser module enables you to quickly integrate non-linear search into a project.  Faceted search is particularly useful when you would like to present users with multiple entry points into a dataset or when there is no expectation that they know what they are looking for beforehand.  For example, someone browsing Amazon.com for a gift might have not have a specific item in mind, but instead realize theyʼre looking for something under $50 for someone who enjoys cooking and prefers red appliances. Faceted browsing allows users to explore the space of potential items by choosing the refinements in any order.

As the demo application shows, Repertoireʼs faceted browser provides a full set of features.  Unlike many commercial browsers, Repertoire provides item counts for each possible result.  The results display and even the facet controls can be reprogrammed to display interactive visualizations.  And the system can scale to upwards of a million items with only minimal reconfiguration.  Together these features place the Repertoire faceted indexer in a league with commercial products.

For more information on faceted browsing, see publications by Marti Hearst at Berkeleyʼs School of Information: http://flamenco.berkeley.edu/.