26. A machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon data representing instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising: selecting a numeric attribute that is associated with items in a database of items, at least some of the items in the database have a numeric value for the selected numeric attribute, wherein the numeric attribute describes a physical characteristic or property of the items; linking the selected numeric attribute to a descriptive word; linking the selected numeric attribute to a function; executing the function on each numeric value of the selected numeric attribute; assigning a descriptive word to at least one item based on the results of the function such that the descriptive word can be subsequently used in a search to identify the at least one item and functions as an alias for the numeric value of the selected numeric attribute associated with the at least one item; and generating, following the steps of selecting, linking the selected numeric attribute to a descriptive word, linking the selected numeric attribute to a function, executing, and assigning and in response to a search query containing the descriptive word, a list having only those items to which the descriptive word used in the search query has been assigned in the step of assigning, the search query entered by a user before an item of the database having a value for the selected attribute is displayed.
34. The medium of claim 26 , further comprising instructions which, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform further operations comprising repeating executing the function upon any change in the items to the database and repeating assigning a descriptive word after repeating executing the function.