What is 'Feature-based search'?

 
In order to help our customers brower and compare different clothing trying to determine which clothing will be right for them, we start to launch "Feature-based search" service through our website. "Feature-based search" allows our customers to find clothing by certain features specific to these clothing.

To use 'Feature-based search', you need to click the 'Feature-based search' link in the Search menu.

How to use 'Feature-based search'?

Picture 1: 'Search' menu.

Click 'Feature-based search'
After Click 'Feature-based search', you will be provided with a form in which you will be
able to specify parameters for feature-based search

Picture 2: 'Features' form (Example).
The set of fields in the form will vary from one clothing to another, depending on the clothing features. You only need to provide values for the fields relevant to you search and to submit the form.

The clothing found by the search query will be displayed in the 'Products' list.

Picture 3: 'Products' list displaying the feature-based search results (Example)
The found clothing can then be compared with one another. 'Products' list
Selecting clothing for comparison

In 'Feature-based search', you can compare clothing assigned to the same clothing class (In other words, you can compare clothing with another clothing, but you cannot compare clothing with shoes). You select the clothing they want to be compared and then the module juxtaposes the selected clothing in the form of a table (the so-called 'Product features chart'). The Clothing features chart allows you to compare clothing by separate features The module offers three alternative ways in which you can go about adding products to the

Product features chart:
1. The first of the three ways is as simple as selecting the 'Compare' check boxes next to the
clothing which need to be compared and adding them directly to the Product features chart with
one click on the 'Compare selected' link.
2. The second way involves using the so-called 'Comparison list'. While browsing the Products list, you select the 'Compare' check boxes next to the clothing which need to be compared and, by clicking the 'Add to comparison list' link, adds them to the 'Comparison list' (A special box appearing in the menu column in which a list of clothing selected for comparison can be stored until the customer requests the operation of clothing comparison to be carried out. The empty 'Comparison list' is not displayed).
Another way you can add a clothing to the 'Comparison list' is by going to the clothing
details page of some clothing and clicking on the 'Add to comparison list' link there.
3. The third way allows adding pairs of clothing to the Product features chart: you can go to the clothing details page of some clothing and request comparing this clothing with some other clothing of the same product class. The clothing with which the initially chosen clothing will be compared is selected from a selectbox on the clothing details page. Both the clothing (the one whose clothing details are displayed and the one selected from the list in the select box) are added to the Product features chart when you click the 'Product comparison' link next to the select box.
Note: More clothing of the same product class can then be added one by one to the Product features chart using the select box below the Product features chart.
Note: The maximum number of products which can appear in selectboxes can be defined ('Maximum number of products which can be shown on the feature-based comparisons page and on the Product details page in the form of a select box. If the quantity of products for comparison exceeds the number specified here, product selection will be done in a popup window').
Comparing products
No matter what method was used for selecting the clothing for comparison, they finally appear in the
Product features chart.
The 'Product features' column displays a list of features by which the selected clothing are compared.
The 'Products' section displays the clothing which are compared. According to the default chart
layout, product features are displayed vertically and products are displayed horizontally.

If you believe some feature is not essential for the comparison, you can remove this feature
from the chart. To remove a feature, you need to select the check box next to it and to click
the 'Remove selected features' link at the bottom of the 'Product features' column.
The removed features are excluded from the chart, however, they appear above the chart in the form
of links from which they can be restored. You can restore any of the removed features at any
time by clicking the 'Removed features' links corresponding to these features.
If needed, you can exclude one or more products from the chart. To remove a clothing, you need to select the check box next to the name of the clothing and to click the 'Remove selected products' link at the bottom of the 'Products' section of the chart.
To add a new clothing to the chart, click on the "Browse" button, In the list of ...... Find out and select the same class of products; after the list of...... appear then select the necessary clothing. Then click on the "Add product" button.
 
 
To restore a removed product from the selectbox or to add a new product to the chart, select the
necessary product from the selectbox and click on the 'Add product' button.
Note: The maximum number of clothing which can appear in the selectbox can be defined ('Maximum number of products which can be shown on the feature-based comparisons page and on the clothing details page in the form of a select box. If the quantity of clothing for comparison exceeds the number specified here, clothing selection will be done in a popup window').

When some feature is common for all the clothing displayed in the chart (for example, all the clothing have the same color), this feature is displayed against a lighter background, so the whole line is highlighted, which makes the similarity more conspicuous.
The highlighted feature ('size range: full range (including custome-made)') is common for all the products being compared

For convenience you can hide the features common for all the products in the chart, so that only the differences are shown. To conceal all the similarities, you need to click on the icon. The lines with the 'common' features will be removed from the chart. The look of the icon will also be changed: . Clicking the icon, you can restore the lines showing similarities in the chart.
Sometimes it may be convenient to rearrange the Product features chart so that the product names are displayed vertically (in a column), and the product features are displayed horizontally next to them (in other words, to flip the coordinate vectors of the chart). This functionality turns out especially helpful if the number of products being compared is much greater than the number of involved features (Great numbers of products make the chart too wide to fit into the screen. Arranging the products vertically can help you to deal with the problem). To flip the coordinate vectors, you need to click the icon.
Clicking the same icon once again reverts the chart to its original state.

If flipping the chart vectors still does not help to make the process of working with the chart any better,
you can resort to getting the module to display the whole chart in a separate window, so that
the chart can be scrolled separately without having to scroll the whole store page. To get the chart to
be displayed in a separate window, the customer needs to click on the icon.