How do I find what I am looking for?

By Last Minute Vacation Homes

Posted on 07.14.05

Navigating the Last Minute Vacation Homes is simple once you know how it is organized. We have put a lot of effort into making this site as easy to navigate as possible; almost any page on this site can be found via clickable directories and keyword searching.

To find what you are looking for, first decide what kind of entry you are seeking. There are currently three main types of pages on the site that you will search for: Vacation Homes, Articles and Events. Each is contained in a different area of our database, and each is found in its own set of areas.

Quick Keyword Searching

There is a quick search feature built into every page. In the navigation bar is an input field where you can enter text for keyword searching. When you enter text into this field and click "Search", you will be taken to a results page that lists matches for your search.

Note that you must select whether you are searching for a Home, Article, or Event. By default the site assumes you are searching for Home.

The keyword feature ignores words with less than four letters (a limitation of the full-text searching behavior of the database environment we run).

Advanced Searching

You can do advanced keyword searching for each type of entry. Each type of entry has its own filtering features explained below.

Directory Search

The Vacation Home Directory Search allows you to fine-tune searches for homes on the site. The top field (search terms) is for including keyword searching. The remained are limitations. You can limit your member search to members from specific countries, states and cities, type of home and number of rooms. Any field left blank is ignored.

Below the region filters are flags for amenities such as "Pet Friendly", "Handicap Accessible", "Internet Access", etc.

Event Search

Searching for events is simple. Each field in the event search form is optional. Like the vacation home directory search, the event search allows you to filter results based on keywords, country, city and state. You can further limit results based on dates. Note, you can leave one or all of the date fields blank--choosing June 2005 (leaving the day of month blank) will bring up matches that are set for June 2005.

Article Search

The article search is straightforward. Use keyword filtering to find the article you want. You can also limit your results to a specific topic (like "Travel Tips").

Browsing the Site

Another way to find what you are looking for is to simply browse the site. Most browsers will show drop-down menus under each category on the navigation bar. If you put your mouse over "News", for example, a list of links will appear that will list topics belonging to art, such as "Site News", "News", "Newsletter", etc. Clicking on these links will show you pages listing all articles belonging to that topic, in order of the most recently posted.

There is also a home directory where you can browse for homes based on home type (Villa, Cabin, Chalet, etc.); these directories are the broken up into Country, State and City.

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