5. A method 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 executing 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 an initial, user search query containing the descriptive word, a list and displaying the list to a user, the 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 the user before an item of the database having a value for the selected attribute is displayed.
5. A method 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 executing 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 an initial, user search query containing the descriptive word, a list and displaying the list to a user, the 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 the user before an item of the database having a value for the selected attribute is displayed. 16. The method of claim 5 , wherein linking to descriptive words comprises selecting a numeric attribute by an administrator from a list.