Unless, that is, a certain threshold of database size has been reached, at which point search gets slower. I have now 6 800 notes in a single database, and search is painfully slow and clumsy, because in many cases, there is a very perceptible delay between typing one character, and seeing it displayed in the search field. It goes thus :
Type character 1 of your search string, wait, see it appear on the screen. Type character 2, wait, see it appear on the screen.
If you speed-type 2 or 3 keywords one after the other, as is customary, you'll be typing most of your characters blindly, probably getting some of them mistyped in the process, and having to begin all over again. You'll also need to wait again while deleting, and so on.
Since a successful search usually takes a few different attempts, with different keyword combinations, this is a major pain.
Ideally, of course, there should be a way for the software to switch automatically between non-delayed search when the database is small, and delayed search when it has grown too big.
But being able to prevent the search from starting before the whole search string has been typed, and visually checked, is a necessity, in my opinion.
I can envision different ways this could be achieved :
- Search does not start before you hit an OK button.
- Ditto, but you can switch between immediate search start and OK'd search in Preferences.
- The search field is buffered, and search starts after x millisecs of non-typing. Possibly adjustable.
- The program detects by itself when the database grows too big, and automatically switches between immediate search start and OK'd search.
I suppose n°2 would be best and simpler, since the user would have to change his setting once per database, after reaching the critical size.
(My system : AMD Athlon II X4 640, 4-core, 3 GHz processor, 4 GB RAM.)
