Default search context is the entire site, not handy.

Reply

bneste Posted: Wed, May 21 2008 2:38 PM

rated by 0 users

Why is the search box always using the entire site for the context of searches? What happened to the drop-down to specify the context? Doesn't it make more sense to set the context of the search to match your location in the site? If I'm in Public Forums > General Any Topic and want to search for something in only that forum I now have to:

1. Enter the search terms and submit
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the results page
3. Click on More search options
4. Oh wait, I can't even pick a specific forum here

There are multiple problems with what you guys did to searching in this version. Why the changes? Just changing a search to sort by date requires steps 1-3 above. That really doesn't make any sense at all. This version of CS really feels like it was written by people who know what forums are but rarely use them. Not ranting, just an honest complaint.

Reply

Alex Crome replied on Thu, May 22 2008 7:16 AM

rated by 0 users

The Search In feature is still in CS2008 - it's just not in the default Hawaii Theme.  Change your theme to Calypso and the "search in" feature will return.

If you want to use the search in feature in Hawaii, you'll need to use the SearchForm markup in /themes/calypso/common/userwelcome.ascx as a sample of what to add to the search form in the /themes/hawaii/common/master.master.

As for the default behaviour, it's a difficult one - Half your users will expect searching to search the whole site, the other half to search the specific forum.  Generally speaking, you'll find the Technical users will expect to search within that specific forum whilst less technical users will expect whole forum search.  The Hawaii theme I'd say is really aimed at simplifying the forum experience for less technical users which is why the out of the box theme goes the simple way.

Reply

bneste replied on Fri, May 30 2008 10:00 AM

rated by 0 users

 I am using Calypso actually, and don't see the "search in" option.

Reply

Alex Crome replied on Fri, May 30 2008 10:13 AM

rated by 0 users

You'll only see the search in when there's something in the current context to search in - for example when you're viewing a forum, you'll get the option to search in

• the current forum
• the current forum group
• the whole site

Reply

tobymathews replied on Wed, Jul 23 2008 11:19 AM

rated by 0 users

On a similar note, is it possible to update the main search form (/themes/<theme>/search/searchform.ascx)? It would be good to be able to select specific forums to search.

Thanks,

Toby