Hi again Mary Anne,

We seem to be thinking along the same lines. The BBS database is simple enough to make a simple form. Five fields: PosterName, PosterEmail, Timestamp, Subject, and MessageBody. The date field can be handled with listboxes, or possibly a fancier calendar control. The idea of dropdown lists to suppy the verbs is good, and it's an example of how a form can constitute a grammar. The form overall creates a sentence from a limited range of verbs and modifiers and supplied freeform "nouns".

I also think that a good search system should allow people who are comfortable with formal logic and search languages to use them. Somebody who knows say, SQL, could type out "SELECT * FROM Posts WHERE Subject='*search*'" in a heartbeat. BTW, another useful verb is "CONTAINS" as a cleaner alternative to having to use wildcard asterisks.

Oh, and a reminder that the user need only fill in as many parts of the form as necessary wouldn't go amiss. To help those poor souls who get to an advanced search screen and think they must fill all the boxes with something -- anything! -- before the computer will allow them to move on.

I know...one thing I learned from a career as a technical writer is that people will always think of one more way to break the system than you've been able to anticipate. It's The Law.

47 in November, eh? 47 in June, myself. Called that one perfectly, didn't I? No matter where you go, there we were--I recognized you as a cohort, m'dear.

--Robert