This site is a technology demonstration for the SourceForge project wcdba. At present, this search engine works only for the web-comic Clan of the Clats, by Jamie Robertson. To get started, select a function from the list below:
The database was last updated on 2006-07-26. It currently indexes comics from the first strip up until 2006-07-15, comprising 1861 strips and 358 characters.
Looking at the server logs, I can see some attempts to try to find strips using keywords, such as change hair. Whilst this works with a keyword-based engine like Google, the Database Archive engine uses very precise boolean logic. So how can you use this feature to find the strip you want?
Let's suppose you wanted to find that strip where Mel is "killed" by Marcus Ferox with a blessed sword. Using keyword techniques, you might try something like Mel killed by Marcus. Unfortunately, in Character:Text mode (the default), the archive will try to match your search as a phrase within someone's speech bubble -- and the result is no matches. Unless you happen to remember an exact phrase from a strip, this approach isn't going to work.
A better idea is to construct a query using the boolean functions. You know that Marcus was present, so you can write Marcus: meaning "Marcus appears in this strip". But you also know that Mel was also there, so you can use the AND operator (+), and write Marcus: + Mel:. That narrows things down to 24 strips, which is better, but not ideal. Remembering a word from the strip comes in really handy at this point; they were having a sword fight, so "sword" is a good bet; Marcus: + Mel: + sword yields just two strips, the second of which being the one in which Mel is stabbed.
To make searches for other people easier in the future, you could suggest that this strip is an important one, and I might add it to Mel's details. From another viewpoint, a blessed sword is an important artifact that really ought to be tracked by the archive, so you might want to tell me that too. If you do that, it really helps if you can tell me the strips in which the sword appears, so I don't have to trawl the archive looking for it.
Finally, don't forget about the Help and Tips. At the bottom of most search pages is a set of examples that explain how to get the best out of each search feature, and how to use boolean logic to aid in your searches.