Search by area drop down menu on home page

[handlebars]

So I'm trying to figure out how to add a new side block to the index page that allows users to search by area/county (I'm from England) for the services they require.
I guess therefore the category structure will be :

AREA -> CATEGORY -> SUB CATEGORY -> LISTING

I did a search on this forum and couldn't find any other posts about this...

Any ideas?!

[piet]

bruceper has some mods, search by map.

and you can make it by custom field
in admin panel - links - custom field.

but others know this better i never used it before.

[handlebars]

Cheers Piet - just had a look at your directory of directories site - Very nice!
Once I've finished modifying mine I'll list it there

[piet]

you are most welcome to do so.

[Bruceper]

Search by area/county will only work if those lisings are in area/county specific categories.

I believe you can use the power search plugin to achieve this type of search.

The map that piet spoke of is simply an imagemap that replaces the category listing on the front page but it could be used inside categories as well.

[handlebars]

Thats a great idea - so in theory I could replace the search drop down on the homepage with the power search drop down. Why didn't I think of that?
Cheers Bruce