The previous
YachtFinder version already had a filter bar that was hidden in a collapsed panel over the search result list. Once this was the only option thinkable because many users were still working on screens having only a resolution of only 1024 pixel. Nowadays most of web site users and
YachtSys partners have screens with 1280 pixels width and higher resolution. This development paved the way for introducing a column left of the yacht search result list.
Well, I admit, we did not have to invent the wheel newly. We just had to adopt the filter bar standard that was established on the biggest online shops. Look at Amazon, Ebay or booking.com and you will understand what I mean. Nevertheless, the development, testing and the launch of the YachtFinder filter bar took quite some weeks because we also introduced a quite powerful multiple select functionality to the location, provider and even yacht model selection. In order to achieve that without requiring our users to wait half a minute for every filter change we had to undertake quite some code work at the very heart of the Yachtbooker Search Engine. But the engine returning fast the matching offer data was not the only challenge. From the thousands of matching offers returning from the search engine, the new detailed filter bar items have to get extracted, counted, grouped, ordered and rendered!
After lots of testing and improving our team was satisfied with the performance. Now the user can easily check and uncheck filter options and within 0.5 - 2 sec (depending on your internet connection speed) you will see the updated result of matching charter offers in the list on the right side. But not only the search result is updated on the fly, also the filter bar entries get updated by the changes. The offer counters that you find in brakets behind every filter item allows the user to anticipate the number of returned charter offers.
Btw: Firefox and especially Chrome are the fastest internet browsers. Work with them to have the best performance with the YachtFinder and the YachtSys System.
You are gladly welcome to post your experience with the new YachtFinder filter bar in the comment section below. This will help us detecting potential usability problems or catching further ideas that we could provide with one of the next Yachtfinder updates. Thank you in advance.