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.)OJAXOJAX illustrates how federated search services can respond to new user expectations generated by Web 2.0:
Features of OJAX:
- 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.
Further information, demo and download.
- 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
Two alternative packages are available:
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- OJAX GUI, Web Services & Harvester
- OJAX GUI, Web Services, Harvester & example repository index
Dr Judith Wusteman