RE: limit vs. refine

["Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>]

Barker, Evelyn G wrote:

> Is there a generally accepted usage for "limit" vs. "refine" 
> when talking about a search? In other words, is there 
> something that spells out when in an interface you use "limit 
> a search" vs. "refine a search"? Do they mean or imply 
> different functionality, and is this spelled out in a style 
> book or other authoritative place?

Well, I consider myself pretty authoritative (not authoritarian,
though). ;-)

_Limiting_ a search means narrowing the scope of what's searched. For
instance, you can _limit_ a Google search to the Adobe site by adding
"site:adobe.com" to the search string. In Outlook, you can _limit_ your
search to the subject field (or other fields you specify) only, a
specific date range, etc. _Limiting_ reduces the number of things
_searched_. 

_Refining_ your search means specifying the search criteria more
precisely or effectively. You _refine_ a search by adding words to the
the search string, specifying a more exact string, adding Boolean
conditions to the string, etc. _Refining_ is generally an attempt to
reduce the number of things _found_ (without further reducing the scope
of the search). 

That's how I'd use them, FWIW. 

Richard


------
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
------




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