Is there any way someone can improve searching for this site?
I often find myself using Google to search this site.
Like offering a drop down list containing something like search Hardware/Software, current forum etc... A bit like quick searches on some sales sites like play.com or amazon.
Jump to PostSomething like this?
Jump to PostOur site search feature actually is powered by Google results, so if you use Google to search this site, you'll get the exact same results as using our site search.
Jump to PostThe advanced search feature on this site is crap. It seems like it doesn't search 90% of the site, and the results it does dig up aren't anywhere close to relevant. You're better off using some more advanced google expressions to get the job done than DaniWeb's search feature.
Our site search feature actually is powered by Google results, so if you use Google to search this site, you'll get the exact same results as using our site search.
Something like this?
Not really, I meant something a bit simpler like if I am in the windows forum being able to search that forum only using the bar in the top right by selecting search this forum; instead of going through the process of filling the extra fields.
If I try searching for this thread it comes up with no results.
The advanced search feature on this site is crap. It seems like it doesn't search 90% of the site, and the results it does dig up aren't anywhere close to relevant. You're better off using some more advanced google expressions to get the job done than DaniWeb's search feature.
The advanced search feature on this site is crap. It seems like it doesn't search 90% of the site, and the results it does dig up aren't anywhere close to relevant. You're better off using some more advanced google expressions to get the job done than DaniWeb's search feature.
This is what I mean. I find it difficult finding something relevant. I think some improvements can be made to narrow down the results better.
I used the advanced search feature just like you did in the screenshot. Typed in 'site search', selected the DaniWeb feedback forum, and chose to list results as threads instead of posts. This thread was #1 in the results.
Oh ... also ... you need to make sure to select from the dropdown menu to sort results by 'Relevancy'. The default might be 'last post time'.
>This thread was #1 in the results.
Well, it definitely didn't show up before.
Possibly due to server migration issues that affected our search server.
This has been a problem before the server migration, too. It's especially noticeable when using very specific search criteria (eg. I'm trying to dig up a thread, and all I remember are a few key phrases from a certain member). In these cases, the majority of the time nothing shows up with the advanced search, but often if I use a search engine I can locate it.
Search algorithms are a multi-billion dollar business (think of all the brainpower that went into developing google's algorithm) and so nothing is going to be perfect ... especially with our limited resources.
However, we offer two different types of searches: The advanced forum search in addition to the sitewide search.
The forum search allows for searching across specific criteria such as specifying a forum, a minimum number of replies, a poster's username, or a date range. Please note that when using this, you need to make sure that "sort threads by relevancy" dropdown is selected. Otherwise, I believe it may sort by thread date instead.
The sitewide search is based off of Google's search results, and is relatively equivalent to doing a "site:daniweb.com query" search.
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