[Xapian-discuss] Incremental indexing limitations

[Ron Kass]

>> 2. Graceful Time-out on searches: To allow a search to run a MAXIMUM of 
>> X seconds, and then return whatever results it has EVEN if not 
>> complete/perfect. In many applications, it is better to show a partial 
>> result after 5 seconds than a complete/accurate one after 50. Users 
>> don't wait 50 seconds for a result. (most don't wait even 5, so maybe a 
>> timeout of 0.5 should be used by some. Anyway, it should a parameter per 
>> query).
>>     
>
> The problem is that this messes up paging through results, because the
> next query will probably time out differently (or not at all, given
> we'll probably have most of the blocks we need cached).
Since almost 100% of surfers to a search page will press the refresh 
button if a search took more than 15 seconds, even if timing out a 
search after 10 or 15 seconds messes up results, I have a strong feeling 
that its better to show some results, even inaccurate ones, than no 
results.
Your thoughts?

Ron