Patent ID: 8214345

Claim:
A method comprising: a computer presenting in a display one or more facets, wherein the one or more facets comprise one or more fields in one or more databases, wherein the one or more facets further comprise one or more continuous facets and one or more discrete facets, and wherein one or more constraints are defined for each of the one or more facets; the computer presenting, responsive to receiving a selection of a facet, a view field and one or more manipulator fields for the one or more facets, wherein the one or more manipulator fields are connected to and surround the view field on at least four sides of the view field, wherein each of the one or more manipulator fields comprises a graphical representation of one or more constraint values defined for the one or more facets; the computer selecting the one or more constraint values for the one or more facets in the one or more manipulator fields; the computer searching, by the one or more facets, the one or more databases; the computer calculating, responsive to searching the one or more databases by the one or more facets, one or more interim search results for each selected constraint value, wherein the interim search results comprise at least one of product counts for recently modified facets or facet constraints, a portion of searched items that meet a constraint of a previewed facet, a brand, a product feature, and a hyperlink to another search result or web page; the computer presenting, responsive to a cursor moving over an active region of the one or more manipulator fields for the one or more facets, a preview of the interim search results, wherein the preview includes one or more of: details of one or more database items satisfying one or more selected constraints for the one or more facets, or a numerical value indicating a number of items in the one or more facets satisfying the one or more selected constraints; and the computer presenting in the view field a list of items retrieved from the one or more databases that meet one or more constraint values in the one or more manipulator fields, and wherein the view field automatically updates in response to a change in any of the one or more manipulator fields.