Google has been testing a new type search functionality: AJAX Search to make search result pages load even faster by only loading new information as needed on new queries. Google search are now serving up results in fractions of a second, and any increase probably will not be perceived in a meaningful way by end users. Does this speed increase really matters? The answer is yes. A move to shave off fractions of a second means more time saved, and more money.
Before Google roll out on a large scale, curious users can head over to the Caffeine test page here. The speed isn’t noticeably faster, but most users would be hard pressed to notice an improvement of a few milliseconds anyway.
You can find many resources in Google Code site. Ajax Search API promises you programmatically manipulate the search results. For example, before showing the results, you could choose to eliminate the results of your competitors on the fly. You can also customize the look and feel of the output.
So let’s take a look some examples.
A simple search page using Google AJAX Search API
This sample demonstrates how easy it is to create a usable webpage with some advanced technologies (such as fast asynchronous web search) in a very simple way, using a public API. Search results are automatically refreshed when you input in the searching text box. It is an intimate searching buddy.
Babelplex makes it possible for users to bilingual search the World Wide Web, Images, Videos, and Wikipedia. In addition, users can translate their search terms into 35 other languages.
Google Ajax Search API and Google Visualization API example
Another example for Ajax Search. the search results are reorganized and showed in a table. Very clearly, isn’t it ?
[...] previous posts like The Ultimate Collection of AJAX Form Validation Plugins (Controls) or AJAX Search: Save Time, Save Money, we have introduced some APIs and plugins, in fact there are many tools, APIs, frameworks and [...]