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3 Simple Steps to Better Forum Searching


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For the benefit of the thread, will you please clarify what you saw differently between "search for this" and 'search for this" ?

 

Thanks!

 

-jared

 

 

Sure Jared, but it was more like something stupid i did ~ but sure, let me demonstrate:

 

Lets say i just installed a contribution: named "Payment method fee". I have a little problem with it, so i look on the msgboards to find any post about it.

So I hit search, and type in: 'Payment method fee' in the search field - and cause this is a contribution, i select that from the dropdownmenu (contribution support).

You can view the result [here]

 

When you look to those results you can see its only my third result that actualy shows a highlighted 'method' (and only method not all 3 words) only result 16 could be something i'm looking for, strange cause the topic title (its actualy a post i started) is what I typed in to search. However, even all 3 words are in the first line of that post only 'method' is highlighted in yellow. I'm completely lost with sush results.

 

However when you type in how they say you should using the double quotes (" ")

"Payment method fee" and do the same by selecting contribution support from the drop down. My results now are much better: [View results here]

 

However, i only have one results - it is the one i was looking for.

 

 

Note. Its not exactly what i found out in the previous post - but since they say you need to use "___" in the help file - i thought this was all my fauth so didnt post it here. I now tried it all over since i dont know what my search was last time.

 

So use double quotes!!! :P

 

 

Hoping to have clearified my previous post by this,

Greets, tom

PS. Excuse me for my language - i'm not used to write it down :P

Even in this dark place, yes, I am afraid of my own shadow.

 

 

 

Contributions | KnowledgeBase | osCommerce 2.2 pdf

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Thanks, Tom! Don't feel bad that you had bad luck, initally, searching. I had pretty bad luck too, that's why I started this thread when I learned a bit.

 

-jared

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Thanks, Tom!  Don't feel bad that you had bad luck, initally, searching.  I had pretty bad luck too, that's why I started this thread when I learned a bit.

 

-jared

 

 

If i never made mistakes i wouldnt have learn so many things :)

 

And you are right ~ this is something that is verry wanted and needed ~ a good search on this forum can help out a lot ~ then we wouldnt end up with new people asking the same questions over and over (like me: :blush:) ~ it would help out the search to if there where less post about something to ~ thats why - if i have questions about a contribution - I always look up if there are any post about it in the contribution support before starting a new topic :)

 

And actualy I was already used to using + instead of AND (like when i search on google i use + to never and) thats why i didnt realise it could be a problem B)

 

Kind regards,

and lets make this a good guide for people to understand how to search and find efectevly.

Tom

Even in this dark place, yes, I am afraid of my own shadow.

 

 

 

Contributions | KnowledgeBase | osCommerce 2.2 pdf

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  • 3 months later...

excellent tip, most basic questions are answered over and over. like you said earlier the search function isn't the greatest for osC and google is a good way to search the osc forums even though it's not always up to date.

 

speaking of search functionality, is there a better product search contribution? if not any good ideas on how to implement one.

Most likely your question has been answered, please do a search first.

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Calvin, have a look at these:

http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contri...l/search,search

http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contri...l/search,search

http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contri...l/search,search

http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contri...l/search,search

http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contri...l/search,search

 

I use some of these - - not sure how much cobbling would be required to get them *all* to work together, but I remember installing the one to search product descriptions and at least one other on the same shop.

 

-jared

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ahh, thanks jared. i wasn't specific enough; i'm having a problem with relevant searches. ie. a customer types in: video game and it returns anything in the product name and in the product description with no relevance. so an ATI video card or even a TV with s-video out is rated higher than an actual video game. ( i know that the customer should type: "video game" in quotes, but most don't) when there's 20k+ in products, it becomes a mess. i'll probably look on google for general search algorithms to see what i can come up with. i've seen the google site searches, but the re-branding is an issue.

 

i'm thinking, i'll start by a simple relevance sort: product model, product name, manufacturer name, category name, then description

 

from most specific to least (in general) will greatly help.

Most likely your question has been answered, please do a search first.

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  • 1 year later...
Many folks, forum newbies and veterans alike, have at one time or another expressed frustration with their attempts to effectively search these forums. Some (including myself) have suggested searching via Google instead (though this has the obvious drawback of not finding up-to-the-minute results).

 

Here are a few simple steps that can go a long way to in your quest for osCommerce knowledge.

 

1) Click on the "Advanced Usage Help" link. It's really not just for long complicated searches; but rather gives some valuable insight into how to search more effectively.

 

2) Use the + symbol to require a specific word to be in the search results. For example, if you want to know more about optimizing your site for Google, consider the following searches:

  • Google Search Engine Optimization (returns 24789 results!)
     
  • +Google +Search +Engine +Optimization (returns 51 results)
     
  • +Google +SEO (returns 166 results)

3) Use " " to search for a complete phrase. For example, if you want to know more about changing the text "Welcome Guest! Would you like to log yourself in?" to something more personalized, consider the following searches:

  • "Welcome Guest! Would you like to log yourself in?" (Search fails because some words are too short)
     
  • Welcome Guest (returns 2076 results!)
     
  • "Welcome Guest!" (returns 292 results)

As you can see, just a few search operators can make quite a big difference.

 

 

This should be linked to on the search page or search tips page for oscommerce.

Best Regards,

 

 

Victor Wise

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  • 7 months later...

This is certainly a very useful topic because I myself have had difficulty finding what I have searched for. That 3 letter word restriction is pretty annoying, though.

 

Btw, the section at the top of this channel headed Tips and Tricks Guidelines reads:

"Tips and tricks are only allowed to be posted in this forum channel. For support, please post in another related channel in this forum."

 

When it should be:

"Only tips and tricks are allowed to be posted in this forum channel. For support, please post in another related channel in this forum."

 

Would someone kindly change it? :)

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