This WebSite has a unique, powerful, flexible search and browsing system. We have tried to mimic what you do to browse a paper catalogue. You would want to look at the first few pages, browse the last few pages and sample middle pages. You would want to turn pages, go forwards and backwards. You would want to Bookmark several pages for reference later. You would look in the index to find your interests and then browse forward and back from that point. How nice in a paper catalogue to have, in addition, the pages of interest point themselves out to you, but of course in paper you can't. But on this WebSite you can do all of these things.

After a search, the results pages in which your key words or phrases are to be found are displayed as a list of page titles with Lot numbers. Just double-click on each or any results page and a new window will open up to display the page. You can then scroll through the page to find what you wanted. You can scroll forwards or backwards from that point. You can move the results window around your screen. Your full list of search result pages remains available to you at all times and you merely have to double-click on the next result page to continue with your investigations.

You can use the Minimise/Maximise controls and the Taskbar to have open any number of results pages all at once, subject to your WebBrowser settings. These multiple results pages are available continually to you and represent Bookmarks.

When you are searching catalogues, please bear in mind that each catalogue page has to be brought from the remote server computer onto your computer before it can be searched. Searching a catalogue, therefore, will take time dependent upon how busy your remote server and the Internet then is. Typically to search an entire 700 lot catalogue for any combination of words or phrases will take about 60 seconds.

To specify what you want to search for, use the following rules:

To check that a word or any  of the words in a list appear on a page tick the OR box. Then click in the light-green text box and enter your words separated by  spaces.

To check that a word or all of the words in a list appear on a page tick the AND box. Then click in the light-green text box and enter your words separated by  spaces.

To check that a phrase appears on a page tick the PHRASE box. Then click in the light-green text box and enter your phrase with each word separated by a space.

Note that the search mechanism does not check  for whole words or capitalisation. As an example, if you wanted to search for the word Form, you would get a match if the words Formation, inform, uninformative and so on were present on the page.

If when you are checking through search results pages you cannot readily see the words or phrase you wanted, you can quickly check the page by pressing  CTRL F  to bring up a local search box for that page.

Examples

In searching through catalogues on this WebSite you do not make use of categories. To find all 19th century silver items for example, you would do an AND search as described above, searching for the keywords  Silver Tankard     19th    for example. In this way,  you have access to unlimited search regimes which allow you to detect items of interest including those that might have been ill-categorised or un-categorised on other WebSites.

If you wanted to search for all the silver items in the catalogue, you would do an OR search as described above, searching for the keyword  Silver . In the results window, you can then scroll through the catalogue from that point using the forward/backward controls at the bottom of each catalogue page.

If you wanted to search for all Doulton Burslem you would do a Phrase search by ticking the Phrase box , clicking in the light green text box and entering the phrase Doulton Burslem . The page(s) on which the phrase occur will be displayed together with the Sale date and Lot number range of each page.

Questions

When I double click on a results page within the CatBrowser search box, a results window does not open up. In fact, nothing happens.

There has been some corruption of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) within your local computer, most likely due to use of certain kinds of anti-virus software. Uninstall any anti-virus software and try again. If this does not work, then contact your supplier or Microsoft direct to find out how to reload the JVM from the Microsoft Website.

What screen size and settings get the best out of the catalogue system?.

If you use a 17 inch CRT or a 15 inch TFT display with a colour setting of 16 bit Hi Color and a resolution of  1024x768, you will find that one search results Window fits an exact catalogue width. You can then open many simultaneous results windows and be able to see them all and the CatBrowser Box at the flick of the mouse.

Feedback

If you have any comments or questions you would like to resolve, then you can contact us by email by clicking

enquiries@pacts.co.uk

We would be pleased to hear your views on the CatMaker/CatBrowser system.

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