DrKen wrote:
[...] The drop down list (or other organization?) has over 36000 entries
(it's a list of colleges one might have attended). I don't think I want
to hard code 36000 entries or if I do, I don't want users to have to
scroll through 35000 to get down to Washington, for example.
Well, they can press the `W' key in most GUIs, but the Web application
would still be quite slow as all entries must be parsed and rendered.
What would it take to make a "smart" drown down or scrollable list that
would take you to the area of the letter(s) you type in?
- A server-side script to generate only the requested entries,
- knowledge about XMLHttpRequest to have the server-side script respond
with data of the requested entries that can be used to fill the select
element, and
- a `form' element to display only the requested entries as a fallback.
Or, should this be organized a different way?
It might be better to use a simple text input that also accepts common
acronyms for names like UCLA, UCSF, CCCC aso. That text input may also
provide script-based auto-completion for users with sufficient script and
DOM support.
HTH
PointedEars
--
Anyone who slaps a 'this page is best viewed with Browser X' label on
a Web page appears to be yearning for the bad old days, before the Web,
when you had very little chance of reading a document written on another
computer, another word processor, or another network. -- Tim Berners-Lee