12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising calculating the index using the relevance value associated with a selected query element value.
1. A method for processing a query on a database using a server operatively connected to the database, the method comprising: presenting from the server, to a user, a plurality of query elements, each query element having a plurality of allowed query element values, the plurality of allowed query element values for each query element being presented to the user for selection of a query element value from the plurality of allowed query element values, the query element values not selected by the user being non-selected query element values; receiving at the server, from the user, a selected query element value for at least one of the plurality of query elements; retrieving information objects stored in the database, the database storing a first relevance value which defines a relevance of at least one information object with respect to the selected query element value and a second relevance value which defines a relevance of the at least one information object with respect to the non-selected query element value, the first relevance value and the second relevance value being assigned by a human editor other than the user, the first relevance value and the second relevance value being assigned before the plurality of query elements is presented to the user, the information objects being retrieved based on the first relevance value and the second relevance value, the database further including an index, the index associating at least one information object stored in the database with at least the selected query element value; wherein retrieving the information objects based on the first relevance value and the second relevance value is performed by the server in response to receiving the selected query element value for at least one of the plurality of query elements, and returning query results to the user, the query results corresponding to the information objects.