System and method for active browsing
Systems and methods are provided that employ a client side browser application and server side website applications that use optimization, prefetching, and caching of user interactions. These are used in combination with mouseover callouts to provide browsable search result refinements and additional product information. The systems and methods can be applied to site search applications and site-wide navigation and can be integrated with web analytics solutions to optimize the user interface and information provided based on real time end user browsing trends.
1. A method comprising:
providing for display in a browser a content page comprising a plurality of content items as results of a search request;
detecting at the browser a selection of a selected content item of the plurality of content items, the selected content item corresponding to a search result;
based on detecting at the browser the selection of the selected content item corresponding to the search result, providing a first search refinement window for display overlaid on the content page, the first search refinement window comprising information on the selected content item and a first search refinement option associated with the selected content item, and preloading to a cache of the browser additional information comprising a preview of additional content items associated with the first search refinement option;
detecting at the first search refinement window a selection of the first search refinement option;
based on detecting at the first search refinement window the selection of the first search refinement option, providing a second search refinement window for display overlaid on the content page and on the first search refinement window, the second search refinement window comprising the preloaded additional information and a second search refinement option associated with the selected content item; and
based on detecting a selection of the second search refinement option, refining the plurality of content items provided for display in the content page based on the information on the selected content item and the preloaded additional information.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the information on the selected content item comprises a category of the selected content item, and wherein refining the plurality of content items provides for display content items associated with the category.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first search refinement window and the second search refinement window are displayed while staying within context of the content page.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the selection of the selected content item is detected by an event that detects an action, a movement, or a sound.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the content page pertains to items for sale.
6. The method of claim 4 further comprising pre-fetching the information for the first search refinement window prior to occurrence of the event.
7. The method of claim 4 further comprising retrieving from the cache the information for the first search refinement window prior to occurrence of the event.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the information on the selected content item comprises a subset of content from another content page.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the information on the selected content item is determined based on analytics data.
10. A method comprising:
providing for display in a browser a content page comprising a plurality of content items as results of a search request;
detecting at the browser a selection of a selected content item of the plurality of content items, the selected content item corresponding to a search result;
based on detecting at the browser the selection of the selected content item corresponding to the search result, providing a first search refinement window for display overlaid on the content page, the first search refinement window comprising (i) information comprising a refinement option associated with the selected content item and (ii) a direct action option associated with a function available on an additional content page associated with the selected content item; and
responsive to detecting a selection of either the refinement option or the direct action option, performing a browsing optimization including one of:
based on detecting the selection of the refinement option, providing a second search refinement window for display overlaid on the content page and on the first search refinement window, the second search refinement window comprising a preview of additional content associated with the refinement option, and
based on detecting the selection of the direct action option, performing the function available on the additional content page without retrieving the additional content page.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the direct action option is an add-to-cart action.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the direct action option is a download action.
13. The method of claim 10 wherein the first search refinement window and the second search refinement window are displayed while staying within context of the content page.
14. The method of claim 10 wherein the selection of the selected content item is detected by an event that detects an action, a movement, or a sound.
15. The method of claim 10 wherein the content page pertains to items for sale.
16. The method of claim 14 further comprising pre-fetching the information for the first search refinement window prior to occurrence of the event.
17. The method of claim 14 further comprising retrieving from a cache the information for the first search refinement window prior to occurrence of the event.
18. The method of claim 10 wherein the information on the selected content item further comprises a subset of content from another content page.
19. The method of claim 10 wherein the information on the selected content item is determined based on analytics data.
20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium tangibly embodying program code, the program code comprising:
program code for providing for display in a browser a content page comprising a plurality of content items as results of a search request;
program code for detecting at the browser a selection of a selected content item of the plurality of content items, the selected content item corresponding to a search result;
program code for, based on detecting at the browser the selection of the selected content item corresponding to the search result, providing a first search refinement window for display overlaid on the content page, the first search refinement window comprising information on the selected content item, a search refinement option associated with the selected content item, and a direct action option associated with the selected content item;
program code for, in response to detecting a selection of the search refinement option, providing a second search refinement window for display overlaid on the content page and on the first search refinement window, the second search refinement window comprising a preview of additional content associated with the search refinement option and an additional search refinement option; and
program code for, in response to detecting a selection of the additional search refinement option, refining the plurality of content items provided for display in the content page based on the information on the selected content item included in the first search refinement window and the additional content previewed in the second search refinement window.
21. The method of claim 1 wherein the search request retrieves the plurality of content items from a plurality of stored content items and wherein refining the plurality of content items comprises a second search request retrieving a second plurality of content items from the plurality of stored content items.
22. The method of claim 21 wherein the second plurality of content items comprises additional content items different than content items in the first plurality of content items.
23. The method of claim 10 wherein the information of the first search refinement window further comprises additional information on the selected content item.
24. The method of claim 10 wherein the direct action option displayed in the first search refinement window represents an action related to conversion of the selected content item, enabling immediate conversion of the selected content item without navigating to the additional content page specifically for the selected content item.
25. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of content items displayed in the content page comprise images of each of the plurality of content items, the images depicting representations of the selected plurality of content items satisfying the search request.
26. The method of claim 1 wherein the content page containing the plurality of content items is partially visible while the first search refinement window is being displayed, the content page displaying refinement of the plurality of content items based on the selection of the first search refinement option in the first search refinement window.