for most programmers, a search form is ubiquitous and easily implemented. they have been around since the beginning of the internet. lots of content management systems ship with them. they can be programmed in a variety of languages. i have just built my own personal custom search form using 2 languages: xslt (which i used to know in a very rudimentary way and now know much better) and php (which i know absolutely nothing about but have pieced together bits and pieces and produced a snippet of code that i didn’t find anywhere on the internet). i feel pretty proud of myself and am resting on my laurels for the rest of the night in celebration.