custom fields use

Thanks Guust for your answer,

After receiving your message i did read again more carefully documentation – and as you say it is thrue that custom fields can be displayed in a numerous place of GD and this is great thing.
But
my question is more precisely about using custom fields as selection criteria; And i can see in the documentation the only way to use custom fields as selection criteria is “avanced search”.

Then my question is

1. Do some other standard GD functionalities use custom fields as a selection criteria?
1.a in case of yes. which one ?
2.b in case of no. do you have any plan (short term?) to include custom fields as a selection criteria in other functionnalities that “avanced search widget” ?

Personnaly i’ll appreciate a lot to have the possibility to have in a widget like “popular post view” the possibility to discriminate, in my screens views, more specificly home page, places by custom fields criteria.

Why this question? Because this is a strategic point for my data model definition :

A. if custom type as a selection criteria to display the posts in something like “popular post view widget” do not, or won’t exist in short terme future – then i ‘ll have to define my data model (post types, post categories) in a very detailed way to have control of what i will show or not on my home page.

B. if custom types as a selection criteria to display the posts in something like “popular post view widget” already exist or will exist in short terme future – Then i ‘ll be able to define my data model (post types, post categories) in a minimalistic way (and this ‘ll be more confortable in numerous aspects) knowing that the custom fields will always be there to make me able to have the control of what i ‘ll show or not on my home page; and this for sure, without being obliged to divert, to reroute, fields as “special offers” or “featured listing”

Thanks a lot for your help !

Yves