Example of search being difficult on invisioncommunity.com:

I was trying to see if there was an update to a certain plugin, which is titled as "Download Category Stats (Widget)" in my ACP by @Josh Bond.  So I go to search, filter for Files since I know to only to search Marketplace, and search for "download category."  No results. Then I search for "download" with 4 results, none of them correct.  

The content title is actually "Downloads Category Stats Block Widget." 

 

I feel like when I'm searching for a single word like "download" (which can be considered a base word):

1. You should first show strict matches with items containing strictly download.  These would be the first 4 results.
2. Then you should show loose matches with with items containing *downoad*   

This can catch other variations on the base word download like ... downloader, downloading, downloads, IP.Download ... all of which are real variants in the IPS Marketplace.  

 

You can't do this simple loosening on all of the words ... gallery is an example, since the plural is galleries.  But it does catch very simple stemming.  

Here are two searches with related problems:

Go To Top

I'm searching for Go To Top plugin by @-FP.  I search for the entire string "go to top."  The plugin is the 7th result.  One would think that if I'm typing a phrase of words with 10 characters, I would probably want an exact search especially since all other searches seem to be exact matches.  I think it's because you're ignoring words with less than 2 characters, which I kind of get, but I would think you would try for an exact match first, then loosen to ignore 2 characters or less, then loosen to OR, then loosen etc.  

Unread topic Badge

I'm searching for Unread Topic Badge by @-FP.  I search for the string "unread topic."  His plugin is the 2nd result, even though it's literally called Unread Topic Badge.  The first result is "Topic Title links to First Unread Post."  

 

 

My third feedback on search: I like the quick search options under the searchbox.  They're easy to use, easy to understand, and most importantly, easy to click on.  I do not, however, like the Advanced Search.  It's a hot mess, and opening up a whole page of options makes my eyes glaze over and my brain shut down.  It's just too much for a generation raised on Google.  

Two suggestions:

Search Operands

Build in search operands for user, app, and tag into the searchbox.  For example:

• Search for "4.3 discussion user:joelr" where results are limited to JoelR. 
• Search for "classifieds where:files" where results are limited to IP.Download application.  
• Search for "tag:community" where results are limited to the community tag.  

Nobody has time to open up a whole page of advanced search results.  Users want to type, type quickly, and get to their results.  

Some thoughts: 

• You'll need to auto-fill.  For example, typing in "user:joe" should auto-fill with all users beginning with "user:joe*".  
• You'll need to auto-suggest on application aliases.  For example:
  • Basic example: Typing in "where:cal" will auto-fill to "app:calendar"
  • Advanced example: Typing in "app:downl" or "app:mark" will auto-fill to "app:downloads" or "app:marketplace", both of which are aliases for IP.Downloads.  These aliases will need to be pre-defined in Content Discovery.    

There are other search operands that you can add:

• where:thistopic, thisforum, all, attachments
• since: or when:

Content Type Filters

For users who need a friendlier method of filtering content, my next suggestion is to add the content type filters as fa-icons directly underneath the search box.  

• fa-globe for All content
• fa-comments for Forum content
• fa- picture-o for Gallery content
• fa-commenting-o for comments and reviews
• etc

Some thoughts:

• Users will need to be able to select multiple content items such as Forums and Blogs. 
• Clicking on fa-globe will select all icons.  Clicking on fa-globe will deselect all icons.  

Search in Gallery ... when you search in a Gallery category, I don't think it's searching all sub-categories.  

I also don't think it's searching album names.  

If you want stemming and the ability to search short words (without adjusting your fulltext index configuration in MySQL) you will need to use an alternate search engine (and as you know, support for Elasticsearch will be introduced with 4.3).

 

Search in Gallery ... when you search in a Gallery category, I don't think it's searching all sub-categories.  

I also don't think it's searching album names.  

This is either bugged or the default behavior. If you, under advanced search, start to limit the search to categories (any app), sub categories beneath are not searched. Only, and specifically, the nodes you select are searched.

Select a category that is just a container with no content itself other than child forums or whatever, the search will return nothing.

 

This is either bugged or the default behavior. If you, under advanced search, start to limit the search to categories (any app), sub categories beneath are not searched. Only, and specifically, the nodes you select are searched.

Select a category that is just a container with no content itself other than child forums or whatever, the search will return nothing.

That's what I was thinking too.  This might be intended behavior to only search the specific node.  

In any case, whether intended or not, I think of a category as .. a category that contains all things within it, including sub-categories.  When I search I areasonably expect it to search and find all things at any level within the category.  

 

a category that contains all things within it, including sub-categories

Agreed. I only just caught this myself a few weeks back. It's something that "could" be hooked to include by me/others (I think) but it really needs to be a toggle (include subnodes by default) included in the method by default - at least I'd feel more comfortable with it there.

a search option for tags is essential. It could be an option similar to the twiiter search with ajax or any other type of technology that shows the words in real time as you type.

I'm tagging all the content and I needed to create a tag list manually. They are tags about destinations in the world, but they could be tags on any other subject. The list will look huge and without a search we return to the Yahoo! directory format.