Better search?
I have been trying to figure out a better way for searching a drupal site. I have come up dry. I would like to know if anyone has created a search option that has a recognition function (probably based off of AJAX). For an example of what I am talking about visit http://www.plone.org their search option is based off of this and it is amazing at how interactive and useful that search is. It allows the user to almost flirt with the article before actually having to take the plung. I like this idea because a user can sometimes be overloaded when their search brings up 5,000 pages. Change a word and get a different result.
In conclusion: I am looking for a better search alternative then the "reg" I would like to be a "smart" search box?
--
Andrew
For an example of what I am
Looks much the same as the Drupal search behaviour to me, except it returns more results?
gpk
----
www.alexoria.co.uk
not the same
No, It is not the same as how Drupal search works. I am wondering if someone has a module that utilizes ajax in that it auto populates as you are typing what your search could be.
Let say I type "dru" it would automatically list drupal and then drupil in a box under the search box in order under it is in. It is very nice and and I like that you can use your arrows keys on the key board for search.
--
Andrew
I fail to see what's so
I fail to see what's so spectacular about Plone's search:
- in Firefox, nothing happens when I type "his", "her", "doc", "mys", "mov", you name it.
- same thing in Netscape: nothing
- and in IExplorer (admittedly, an older version), I can't even type in the search box!
So, even if it works wonders in your browser, I have the feeling it's all quite browser-dependent - which is a no-no.
The functionality is not too difficult to accomplish. It would suffice to read the input after each keypress, and then do a search for keywords with the old search term + the new character, replacing the results in a pulldown list with the new results. But I wonder if that is what users are looking for. For me, at least, typing my search word without being disturbed by refreshing pulldown lists which I don't want in the first place, goes much faster. After all, gaining 0.2 seconds is what we're all after :-)
I can't see any difference
Are we looking at the same thing? I'm just using the search box top right at http://plone.org/ or the search text box at http://plone.org/search_form. Both these boxes, and Drupal search, work nicely with the browser facility which remembers phrases I've typed in before, but I don't see any autocomplete AJAX stuff. I'm using Firefox.
You could do what you want in Drupal by setting up search autocomplete functionality along the lines of the existing built-in autocomplete functionality (search this site and/or your Drupal codebase for "autocomplete").
Alternatively these may be of interest ... ah yes, someone has thought of it already:
http://drupal.org/project/dynosearcho
http://drupal.org/project/quicksearch
http://drupal.org/project/search_autocomplete
gpk
----
www.alexoria.co.uk
must have been...
I am sorry I must have been unclear. If you install plone project the search is an autocomplete of sorts. It allows the user to get a preview of the article that contains the keyword you are typing in. It also allows for easy select with just the arrows keys on the keyboard which means no need to reach for the mouse again (if you don't want to. I am using firefox.
Gpk - Thank you I will be able to piece together what I was looking for from those. I really appreciate your help.
I know that being worried about load time and .2 sec does matter. But there are some items I feel the user will benefit from. It is a trade off and if I see to much of a lag then ill just drop it.
--
Andrew
>I know that being worried
>I know that being worried about load time and .2 sec does matter ... if I see to much of a lag
I guess the performance you will see will depend heavily on the performance/load of your server. Certainly drupal.org is nice and fast at the moment, with everyone on holiday I guess! :-)
gpk
----
www.alexoria.co.uk