Miles,
> would the number of fields in a table significantly affect the
> search-query time?
Yes.
In addition to the issues mentioned previously, there is the issue of
criteria; an OR query on 8 fields is going to take longer to filter than an
OR query on 2 fields.
Anyway, I think maybe you should tell us more about your database design.
Often the fastest solution involves a more sophisticated approach toward
querying your tables.
--
Josh Berkus
Aglio Database Solutions
San Francisco