How can I add a search feature to a website that returns images?

Question

Hello,

I need to add a search feature to a website.

Not being adept at PERL or PHP, I was thinking of adding a remotely hosted search CGI (like freefind or fusionbot). Alternately, I might end up trying to convert the HTML site to a Wordpress site (as I think I may be able to add a search function relatively easily once that is achieved).

The following site is the one my boss is referencing:

http://www.hastingstilebath.com/index.php

You'll note if you search for something like "toilet" in the search form, all the images labeled as such are returned.

Is this wayyy too difficult for a newbie like me? Does anyone have any leads I could follow? (I'm good at researching, just seeking some direction).

Thank you so much.

Answer 1

The search feature employed by search engines (like Google) as well as those that you mentioned (Freefind or Wordpress) is generally keyword-based, which means they just gather words from your pages and match it with the user's query.

The website that you mentioned in your post (Hastings Tile Bath) seems to be more structured - each image in the search results is a specific product of theirs whose name matches your query, most likely pulled out of a product database. Implementing this kind of search is rather straightforward IF you already have a database of items: you simply need to translate the user's query into an SQL query that then pulls out relevant items from the database, and you can display the items in whatever manner you please - such as this website which displays the product name along with its image.