1. A device, comprising: a storage configured to store a database comprising at least one index, wherein each of the at least one index comprises at least one descriptor associated with an item in memory, a first pointer that identifies a location of the item, and a second pointer that identifies a location of information that corresponds to the item; an input mechanism for entry by a user of strokes corresponding to ideographic characters, and of character keys corresponding to the ideographic characters; at least one processor configured to search the database for indexes having descriptors that match the strokes or characters entered by the user, and provide for display to the user the ideographic character and the alphabetic equivalent for each of the indexes that have matching descriptors, and a list of selectable icons each corresponding to one of the indexes, wherein each of the selectable icons comprises a type indicator identified by the second pointer for a corresponding index.