Search - the weakest link

[TSFX]

Been using IPS4 for a few months now and overall it's been a positive experience, except for search. Now I know search system enhancements are next up on the feature plan, and those listed enhancements can't come sooner, but there are other issues and enhancements I'd like to see.

First up is to fix the basics/bugs, how do you do an "and" search with multiple terms that is sorted by date, I can't seem to do it and I find that area unusable. If might be a good idea to duplicate the "Sort By" option on the left filter sidebar above "Content Type".

I find the left sidebar filters for search results too cumbersome, currently I have to scroll down a number of pages just to find the filter I want which is not very user friendly imo. I'd like an option for a more compact version which uses a dropdown list for "Content Type", "Date Created" and "Last Updated". Also having the ability to specify which filters are displayed and in what order would be great.

Next up is tags, it would be nice if it listed the tags that are in use along with their usage count, and for those tags to be filtered according to the "Content Type" filter selected.

Lastly I'd like the option to select what "Content Type" options can be searchable according to group permissions, along with being able to specify the name of that option (for instance, I don't think you can rename the "Files" type name, I'd like to rename it to better represent how our site uses that feature). There are numerous scenarios where this might be helpful, you might want to limit which type of content can be searched by guests, or you might not want members to be searched (yes some of us want that).

Anyway, those are my thoughts.

 

[Joel R]

Lots of good ideas.  

#1 I like the suggestion of more compact filters that use a dropdown list.

#2 I passionately support a master index of tags that's searchable (although personally I'm not sure if search would be the appropriate place for it.  I think a dedicated tag manager would be better.)