Microchip fails at searching appnotes or datasheets. Google finds datasheets better for parts than Microchip.
Parametric tables seem to be terribly slow on all retailer or manufacturer websites. Not sure why - because they are some IT sites (like tweakers.net) that also have a big catalog for IT parts pricewatch, and responds very fluently.
The Farnell family are pretty bad. Sometimes I have to clear cookies just to get them to work. The layout is slow and the choice of parameters often random, and often the ordering isn't correct. Searching only works for very specific part numbers or order codes.
i kind of solved this after some experimenting with opera. use opera browser, solely for farnel. but the java is kinda of crooked in it.
on the topic of bad sites. i officially complained to RS components about their site. it is impossible to search for things if you have a long list of unknown variables to fill in experimental circuits ... each time you click anything ... you have to wait ... it is a very un-intuitive design
my main complain description to them was ... "why is your website ... CLICK --- waaaaaaiiit ---CLICK --- waaaaaaiiit ---CLICK --- waaaaaaiiit ---CLICK --- waaaaaaiiit ---CLICK --- waaaaaaiiit ---CLICK --- waaaaaaiiit ---CLICK --- waaaaaaiiit ---CLICK --- waaaaaaiiit ---CLICK --- waaaaaaiiit --- .... and not .... click, click, click, click, click, click, click, and just 1 WAIT? "
RS is worst IMHO. Try importing a BOM from your CAD project into RS - forget it..
I did it once. Had 30 items to order in for 8 prototypes, so took the RS catalog numbers + Quantity*8 from the BOM export in Excel. Pasted them into RS:
"This item can only be ordered in multiple of 50. Please change your order quantity to match"
So I really have to
manually update 30 lines?! You can't like.. round stuff up for me like the other retailers do?
And then if you have finally done (10 minutes later) so you click Update Cart : sorry session crashed, you have to start over from an empty cart.
Their site "crashes" also quite a lot if you're doing parametric searches,
especially if you do more than 1 at once (because you do at any retailer site that's as slow as theirs).. nope, crashed again.
So instead, I just took the Farnell numbers, pasted them into their site.. got the MOQ complaint, clicked order and it was OK.