Seeeeeeeeeeearch!!

[rxmd]

Hi,

maybe I'm just dense but I think the search function on the site is completely broken.

- There is no way to search for two keywords in the same post. If I want to search for "MP finder upgrade", I get all posts containing "MP" or "finder" OR "upgrade", which is obviously useless. Or try looking for posts about a "quick load kit" one day. Same if I want to look for all posts containing both "Canon" and "Leica" - no Boolean operators ("AND", "OR", "NOT") either.

- The search index only goes back a few months. Older discussions are inaccessible. The same topics are bound to crop up again and again. This is especially bad because the forums are being reorganised constantly at the moment, meaning if you have a problem with the Hexar, for example you don't really know where to look - Hexar RF forum? Konica RF forum? Leica M forum? Having a good search function is essential.

At present I can really only recommend searching the site using Google with "site:rangefinderforum.com". This is obviously a kludge but it's the only way to get marginally more useful search results. Is this really meant to be that way with the board software or is it just the way it's configured on RFF?

Philipp

 

[sienarot]

I find the dropdown "Search" to be a little wishwashy, but the "Advance Search" seems to work well. If in doubt, I just use google.

Type in:

site:rangefinderforum.com {search string(s)}

ie:

site:rangefinderforum.com leica m3

and off you go.

 

[photobizzz]

Stephen from Cameraquest addressed this the other day. He said that it was broken and to do what sienarot is suggesting with google search.

 

[rxmd]

Suggestion

Suggestion

OK. If this is the case, then here is a suggestion for an improvement to the site that should require very little work and increase functionality quite a bit:

If Stephen officially acknowledges that Google is a better way to search the site, then add a Google search box to the site somewhere. Here's how this can be done:

• It would be best to have this integrated with the existing forum software, to have a Google search box in the drop-down search menu:
  • http://www.seo-vault.de/2007/05/17/vbulletin-google-custom-search-engine-integration/ has a 2 kB download with a small XML file and a Readme guide. The site is in German, but the download itself is in English.
  • Alternatively, http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?threadid=129076 has a bit of code from the official VBulletin support site to do this.
• Otherwise, if one just wants to add custom HTML code for a search box somewhere, here's some guides to do this:
  • http://www.googlesearchbox.info/
  • http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_can_i_add_a_google_search_box_to_my_web_site.html

This would make search easier for a lot of people, and in addition it would decrease server load. If I remember correctly Google also pays ad revenue for the text ads it places next to the results, so it would also help pay for the site.

Philipp