In November 2005, we reviewed the visual search tool Quintura. Back then, it was an application you downloaded and installed on your PC to search the web. We installed it for the review and promptly forgot about it; our Web search is done in the browser –anything else is too much of a hassle. Now Quintura has launched an online search engine and even though it is still in beta it is quite interesting.

Quintura is based on a visual search engine technology and makes use of Yahoo’s index.

It presents the results in an interface that is truly different. It is refreshing to encounter something new in an area like search where there is a virtual interface lock-in.

Quintura sports the ubiquitous search box, but once you click the button you’re off to wonderland.

On the other hand, Quintura’s innovative interface takes a little getting used to and there are some quirks to fix before it is a real competitor for the big search engines.

Visual clustering

When you do a search on Quintura the upper half of the browser window is filled with a tag cloud of terms. Your search term is at the center of the cloud surrounded by related terms that can help you narrow your query.

The font size of the terms indicates how relevant and important Quintura considers the word or phrase.

If one or these terms will add accuracy to your search, you click it. You then watch as it floats towards the center of the cloud to join your query.

Any of the terms in the cloud can be excluded easily. When you point your mouse to it, a little x appears. Click it and the term disappears. You can retrieve it from the”Excluded” menu if you change your mind.

If you want to add a term that is not in the cloud, you double click on some blank space in the cloud and a box pops up for you to enter your term.

The search results are displayed in the lower half of the screen and as you adjust the query you can see the results change. This is fun and we have enjoyed playing with adding and excluding terms to see the results change.

There is an image search option which works in the same way.

There is also an option to save your search cloud. You get a unique URL which you can right-click to copy, save or add to bookmarks. It would have been nice to have the additional option to add it to del.icio.us and other similar services.

Not ready for prime time

Quintura is still in beta so a few kinks are to be expected. And it is not ready for prime time yet. It needs to gain a lot of speed, for one thing. Another problem is the way the search results are presented.

There is a price to pay for being able to see the results change as you focus your query: The top half of the browser window is filled with the search term cloud. That leaves precious little space for the search results. I work on a lap top and only see the top 3 results before I have to scroll.

On my Mac it works fine with Firefox and Opera, but not with Safari.

Try it out!

Despite the quirks, you should give it a try to enjoy the experience of a truly different search interface. There is a short tour, which we recommend. In 1 minute and 23 seconds, you learn how to search with Quintura.

If you are interested in search engines, you will probably find it an interesting and refreshing experience. And if you are one of the scores of visually oriented people out there you might find yourself returning to Quintura to enjoy a search tool that caters to your needs.