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I have millions of records categorized in following way

1: Category(All, Person, Company, Reference etc ) 2: Type(master data, source data) http://i.imgur.com/WwPrc.png

Current flow :

Through UI, user can choose category (radio buttons) and type (radio buttons) and hit search > get me results.

But as categories are growing(could be more than 10+); radio buttons seems an invalid choice.so i purpose a drop down to select categories and radio buttons for type as they are fixed.

But the question is, is it a right way or can i show it in any different and easiest way

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I'd somehow refactor the form in order to be able to keep the radio buttons.
Radios are preferred over a dropdown in that the user is able to see all the choices at once, no need to click the arrow to open the list.
As for the screenshot provided, I imagine that the users first choose category, than type, and after that they fill one or more of the text inputs.
To account for this sequence I'd set the category options in a column to the left.
Next, a new similar but shorter column containing the type options.
Next come the input fields in two rows.
The last item, to the right and the bottom of the form would be the [search] button.
This way you can still leverage the advantage of the radio buttons until you have really too much of them, and additionally the form is organized in the same order the user consumes its elements. 

Category            Record       
o All               o Golden    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
o Person            o Source    XXXXXXXX search XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
o Organization                  XXXXXXXXXXX text XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
o Family                        XXXXXXXXXXXXX inputs XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
o Clan                          XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX here XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
o Tribe                         XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
o Country                       XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX    [search]
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  • Juan, don't u think the option u have suggested is consuming lots of vertical space. and as i said the list will be long means there could be 10-15 inputs fields & the goal of the page is to show more relevant data (number of records) in the page. – Hemchandra Oct 17 '12 at 10:04
  • Hi Hem, I looked at your screenshot and it looks as if you could set a fairly long list of stacked categories, using the small font size of the screenshot. The other elements are "flat". – Juan Lanus Oct 17 '12 at 16:16
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I think the drop down for category would work best.

You should use "Full name" not "Full Name" as per "Web form Design - Filling in the blanks by Luke Wroblewski"

Is there a reason why you are displaying the input fields in a row and not in the column?

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  • Thanks for pointing out "Full Name", will change it surly. there are lots of input fields and showing them vertically means lots of space consumption; showing them horizonatly means i m using only 50px space vertically:) and more space for result data grid. – Hemchandra Oct 16 '12 at 10:09
  • I see, another suggestion I can make is to combine Street and House number into 1 input = "Street address" as per ebay.co.uk, so that the form would display on one line. – Igor-G Oct 16 '12 at 10:18
  • Thanks but here requirement is a bit different as we are filtering data as much as we can and if u have noticed we have organisation type where we would have multiple address fields also:D – Hemchandra Oct 16 '12 at 10:33
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Depending on the layout space u have I suggest, that u simplify the form with an advanced search button Juan Lanus aproach looks clean and simple, since categories are growing the best option is a dropdown however u can always improve dropdowns or asist user via javascrpt heres a very nice plugin good luck

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