Search Engine Remake

Re:Search Engine Remake (APGvNext (Sam))

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 09:40:09 GMT

just to clarify: in V4 you will be able to search image title + description in one shot.. I was referring to not being able to search within the comments on the V4 initial release and what I did was I put "searching within comments" on the consideration list. So, V4 is definitely an improvement over V3 in this photo searching area.

By the way, the search engine in V4 understands Google's search grammar (not in V3 either) so it is a lot more powerful too if you happen to want to fine tune the search phrase.

Re:Search Engine Remake (APGvNext (Sam))

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 05:35:48 GMT

Thanks for your details. I put it on the feature consideration list for V4 and I will get to it after V4 is released.

Re:Search Engine Remake (AAF Scott)

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:29:14 GMT

Figure out what the problem is. You can search the title, but not the image description field.

Re:Search Engine Remake (AAF Scott)

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:16:48 GMT

My members tend to use the comment section to leave more detailed commentary related to their photos. It's not critical to search it, but it would be nice. Perhaps an editable 'comment like' description block would eliminate that?

I'm tempted to argue that the gallery contents are valid content, particular when a user is searching the forum, but I understand what you're saying. " />

Re:Search Engine Remake (APGvNext (Sam))

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:58:11 GMT

Thanks Army, but right now, I am concentrating on making the search as friendly as possible for the forum itself.. meaning the focus is on the content at the moment. Of course it would be nice to be able to search comments for photos at the same time... but from your experience (I know you have been using the gallery component extensively) do you find your users wanting to look for things said in comments?

Re:Search Engine Remake (AAF Scott)

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:41:35 GMT

Samuel,

I don't recall if you've addressed this, but what about searching the Gallery? Right now that search is very rudimentary. Any thought of including Gallery results (from image notes and comments) in the regular search?

Re:Search Engine Remake (APGvNext (Sam))

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:35:45 GMT

Right now, I am shooting for an end of year release. Thanks!

Re:Search Engine Remake (hotel96)

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 16:55:50 GMT

Looking forward to it. Do you have an ETA?

Search Engine Remake (APGvNext (Sam))

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 23:01:27 GMT

One of the most important features that receives a UI + Usability revamp in the upcoming V4 is the Search function.
For a lot of users, instead of the forum and the message lists, the search engine is their entry point into a community forum. Nowadays not many have the desire and time to browse a sea of messages hoping to find what they need.

Therefore, it is vitally important that we focus our attention on the usability end of the search engine in order to meet users' expectations.

Simplified Interface

As you can see from the following screen shots, the Search engine in V4 has a simplified and more streamlined interface, compared to what we have in V3. Gone are the Advanced options from the initial screen that confuses many novice users. However, with a single click, advanced users can still find the options to narrow down the scope for their search. Notice that even the advanced options are easier to understand than what we currently have.

Simplified, but actually much more Powerful

In most forum systems, even though the search results are more relevant than message lists, users still have to wade through a sea of results hoping to spot what they look for. And if you didn't narrow down the scope before you hit the search button, you would probably see messages from unwanted forums showing up on the search results, making browsing time-consuming and forces you to repeat the search process with carefully selected filters.

The Search feature in V4 takes care of these very problems by allowing users to apply filters and sort order after the results are returned. This is remarkably more flexible as users can customize the way results are presented on-the-fly. In contrast, once the search action is performed, users have no way to customize the results in V3.

The following filters are available on the results screen in V4:

Content Filter: you can narrow down the search results by showing FAQs only, Messages with Attachments only, Threads that received helpful replies, Threads that are marked as Answered, and any combination of the above;
Forum Filter: you will see a list of forums and the respective result count within each on the left hand side. And you will be able to select one or more forums to filter the results;
Time Filter: you can narrow down the results by date, too. In the current version, you have to specify this filter before you hit the search button, making it inflexible because if you "guessed" the time period wrong beforehand you will see no results returned and have to redo the search.
Sorting: We have more sorting criteria in version 4, and again, you apply the sorting criterion on the results, not before you search.
Filter indicators: Once you apply any filter on the results, you will see indicators at the top of the results list. This allows you to easily see the current filters and remove any unwanted ones with a mouse click.

More: Search is available everywhere (and results are shown on the spot!)

When people search, they generally want to see the results right where they are quickly. What I am saying is they prefer not to leave the current page just to find out if there is anything relevant. In V4, there is a search box available on the Navigational drop down menu, too. What this means is that you no longer have to go to the dedicated search page to perform a simple search! Type in a search phrase and you will see the results immediately, WITHOUT a single page refresh.

I hope you have enjoyed what you have seen so far about version 4! I will be writing more about the new features in V4 in the next posts in the coming weeks. That's it for now and have a great day!