The Layout

Each of the rows in the top half of the display represents a feature of the items you are investigating, and all of the items are sorted in each row from least to greatest value (or alphabetically).Each rectangle-icon above the row represents a single item. The rectangle-icons representing the same item will usually appear at a different position in each row. In the example screen shot below, which represents a set of wireless networking products, the red rectangle-icons all represent the same item, which happens to be an Apple Airport.

The gray buttons in each row show a value, and the number of rectangle-icons above them indicate how many items have that value. In the example above, you can see that there are 9 products with the 802.11b standard, 2 with Home RF, and so on. Note, then, that wider buttons mean more items; narrower buttons mean fewer items.

What you can do

• To see more features, use the inner scrollbar at right. Enlarge your window for best results.
• To narrow down your candidate choices, click on one or more feature value buttons. Only the items with those values will be shown in the listing in the bottom part of the display. The rectangle-icons of items being shown have solid colors (not just outlines).
• To see an item's features, put your cursor over a item's rectangle-icon or text/image listing, and it will be highlighted.
• To color an item so you can scroll and compare it to others, click on a rectangle-icon or put your cursor over an item in the listing and select a color button. (You have three colors to choose from.) Colors are sticky and colored rectangle-icons are always shown. Click again and the coloring action will be undone.
• To add more items to your choice set, click more value buttons under rectangle-icons that are outlined in gray. Shift-click in the same row to add continuous selections.
• To reduce your choice set, click buttons in different rows with visible rectangle-icons above them. Buttons with no visible rectangle-icons above them have no matching vehicles and will result in null selections.
• To start over and clear all selections and your coloring, click the reset button at upper left.
• To narrow your choice set and see more feature detail, click the Filter button after you have narrowed down your choices from the original set. Clicking the Back and Forward buttons navigates through the history of your Filter operations.