[Web4lib] Re: OJAX federated search service now in Beta

[Judith Wusteman]

Thanks for your input on OJAX - we welcome feedback and suggestions.

 >> from its interface design, it is too primitive.

A guiding principle for OJAX is that reducing the complexity of the user 
interface can benefit its usability. We feel that we have produced a 
user interface that is simple to use without being simplistic. Is there 
something that you wanted but were unable to do with OJAX?

If anyone has any comments, perhaps we could continue this thread solely 
on web4lib so as to avoid more cross-posting. Or you could email me 
directly. There are also OJAX discussion forums at 
http://sourceforge.net/forum/?group_id=150304

Regards
Judith Wusteman

> Original Message:
>  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 19:48:20 -0500
> From: "Jason Zou" <jason.zou at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [XML4Lib] OJAX federated search service now in Beta
> To: "Judith Wusteman" <judith.wusteman at ucd.ie>
> Cc: web4lib at webjunction.org, xml4lib at webjunction.org
>
> It seems that OJAX is a good federated search service software. I have not
> used its previous versions. Also I did not test its capabilities of
> federated search.
> I only tried its demo. To my surprise, from its interface design, it is too
> primitive. And
> it has some issues with IE 6 and Mozilla. Also it seems that it is
> impossible to see the
> abstract of the last record of my search result.
>
> Anyway, it is an interesting software.
>
> Jason
>
> On 1/18/07, Judith Wusteman <judith.wusteman at ucd.ie> wrote:
>   
>> Apologies for any cross-posting.
>>
>> OJAX federated search service software is now in Beta release and
>> available for download. Version 0.7 has improved performance, stability
>> and user feedback, as well as additional features such as RSS/Atom feed
>> support. (Atom feeds of stored searches alert users when new content
>> matching their interests is harvested.)
>>
>> OJAX illustrates how federated search services can respond to new user
>> expectations generated by Web 2.0:
>>
>> • Rich, dynamic user experience. OJAX uses Ajax technology to provide
>> immediate dynamic response to user input.
>> • Intuitive interface. The OJAX interface provides the simplicity and
>> familiarity of Google but with the power of advanced search
>> • Integration, interoperability and reuse. OJAX uses loosely coupled Web
>> Services and supports the OpenSearch RSS standard, thus facilitating
>> integration with a range of virtual library environments, institutional
>> repositories, course management systems and institutional portals.
>> • Open source standards-compliance. OJAX supports best-practice open
>> source standards and software, including OpenSearch, OAI-PMH, StAX and
>> Apache Lucene.
>>
>> Features of OJAX:
>> * Auto-completion of search terms
>> * Triggering of auto-searches
>> * Dynamically scrollable search results - no more navigating between pages
>> * Auto-expansion of search result details
>> * Rapid sorting of results
>> * Integrated with the Firefox 2 / IE 7 search feature
>> * Supports OpenSearch Discovery
>> * Stored searches as Atom feeds
>> * Includes an OAI-PMH harvester
>> * Easy to install in your own institution
>>
>> Further information, demo and download: http://ojax.sourceforge.net/
>>
>> Two alternative packages are available:
>> 1. OJAX GUI, Web Services & Harvester
>> 2. OJAX GUI, Web Services, Harvester & example repository index
>>
>> --
>> Dr Judith Wusteman
>> UCD School of Information and Library Studies
>> University College Dublin
>> Belfield
>> Dublin 4
>> Ireland
>> Tel: +353 1 716 7612
>> Fax: +353 1 716 1161
>> URL: http://www.ucd.ie/wusteman/
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> XML4Lib mailing list
>> XML4Lib at webjunction.org
>> http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/xml4lib
>>
>>     
-- 
Dr Judith Wusteman
UCD School of Information and Library Studies
University College Dublin
Belfield 
Dublin 4
Ireland
Tel: +353 1 716 7612
Fax: +353 1 716 1161
URL: http://www.ucd.ie/wusteman/