New Search Interface

[Darin.K]

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Laura F. wrote:

Darin.K - It's interesting that you prefer the old way of returning every message.  That had been a big annoyance for many users a long time ago, but I guess everyone acclimated. Anyhow, you can switch between returning "topics" and "specific posts" if you expand the Advanced Search section (linked next to search button).  I will warn you that the Advanced Search section behavior is not quite what I would expect in the way that it behaves if you've already performed a search and then expand the advanced section. I'm also not a fan of how it collapses and I've given all of this feedback to Lithium. Also, if you find yourself navigating pages often you can change the number of results in the Advanced Search section. Do you often need to know exactly how many results / pages there are? I've often heard the quote about Google and the percentage of people looking past the first page is minuscule and we see the same behavior on ni.com.  We hope that means that people will refine their search and try again, but I'm never quite sure. 

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To get to "specific posts" I apparently need to be searching for something.  To sort a user's posts by kudos, I have to assume they used something like 'a' or 'the' and search for that and refine to a specific user as well as specific posts.  IMO, the thread/post choice should be an option in the 'show me posts' section as well.  That way I could pick a user, a board or two, then sort by kudos.  I still can't get all of my posts, sorted by kudos, especially since some of the best ones have pictures and very few words....

As to the number of results, it was very interesting to be able to search a user's post on a given board and quickly know how many posts there were.  Great for Kudos/post posts/solution, etc.  It is hardly surprising that nobody looks past the first page since many searches are mere formalities on the way to posting a question titled 'labview' [sic].  Not to mention the number of duplicate ideas on the exchange.

For searching, I often use google limited to forums.ni.com, I like to use the forum search more as an index.  I'll remember a few details of a post and can quickly scan results for the one I want.  This seems a bit harder now.

[PhillipBrooks]

[smercurio_fc]

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@Darin.K wrote:

Not a huge fan yet, perhaps I haven't figured things out.  First of all, I do not like how the relevant post can sometimes be hidden in the 'Replies' to the original post in a thread.  Sorting by Kudos seems to sort based on Kudos received by the original post, not the reply itself.  Original search will sometimes claim there are two pages of results, when you get to page 2 it shows you there is a page 3, on page 3 you now have page 4, etc.  Changing the search parameters leaves you on the original page, so I do a search, move to page 4, change the search and I am now on page 4 of the new search and have to move back.  Perhaps I will get used to this.

I still miss the good old days when a simple search would easily return all posts by a given user. The real number as well, not "About 200" or "About 20"

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I've seen more interesting behavior. On the first return I saw what you saw. It said "About 100", but showed only page 1 and 2 as the available pages. Then, when I clicked on page 2 it changed the number of results to "About 200". Then, when I narrowed the search to a Instrument Control board, it change the amount again to "About 300".

[Laura F.]

Hi Darin,

I see what you mean with the Kudos / specific posts.

I'm sending all of this feedback along to Lithium in the form of ideas for their product so definitely let me know other ideas as they come up.

Thanks,

Laura

[Laura F.]

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@Wolfgang wrote:

Many thanks, Laura, for taking care!

My comment is related to your post here where I had to learn that using my user name doesn't work... It doesn't work with the new author filter either which probably is not the fault of the filter but still it is sad that I am out of luck and prevented from enjoying all these nice features... Could it be possibly fixed? If I am searching for an earlier post of mine it would be really helpful - because I keep forgetting my ID while luckily I remember my user name

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As for your name, unfortunately there are other forum accounts with the same name and the system can't determine which one to choose but the user ID is unique.

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Hi Wolfgang -

I have a clunky workaround for you.  If you Bookmark this search page URL, then you can just go to that bookmark and then put in a search term and it will search just your posts and display them by message rather than by thread. 

I hope it helps, even just a little bit.

Thanks,

Laura

[Laura F.]

Actually, even more good news Wolfgang.  I was able to edit the names of the old unused accounts with the name "Wolfgang" so it seems if you do a search by your user name you should get your own results now.  I can't promise this will hold forever because I have some memory of doing this before and my user name changes not sticking due to the integration between the forums and ni.com login.  Anyhow, since these are old accounts, I hope that's not the case this time.

Thanks,

Laura

[Wolfgang]

Wow, I'm moved! Thanks so much!

I'll check and see if your changes will persist.

When playing with this new possibility, I realized two things:

1a) Entering a name (I used Roberto Bozzolo) the suggestions may fail at all, e.g. typing 'Roberto B' or 'Roberto Bo' results in 'no matches found', only arriving at 'Roberto Boz' yields the correct user.

1b) The suggestions could be improved further also because Roberto Bozzolo does not show up earlier, although he certainly is the 'Rob*' with the most posts... So may be the suggestions can be sorted according to rank/posts, because the probability for a given user name seems to be proportional to the number of his/her posts... Right now the posts of members prevail, leaving no room for others

1c) Interestingly, the '1-10 of about xxx discussions' varies wildly and mostly seems incorrect... I have tried two times for Roberto Bozzolo, receiving out of 500 and out of 700 - out of 3600 would be more correct...

2) I miss a possibility to display more than 10 search results per page

Thanks again,

Wolfgang

[smercurio_fc]

Here's another strange behavior:

Do a search.

Go forward a few pages with the results.

Click on one of the results.

Click the browser's back button.

Result: You're first taken to the first page of results (results 1-10) and then you see the "Loading" indicator while you wait for the specific page in the result set that you were at.

[JÞB]

Random thoughts:

• I love the By rank or author name selection suggestions But, "Jeff Bo" has no suggestions And I'm not on the list until "Jeff Boh" then I'm the only suggestion. Hmmm...
• I wish I could have multiple selections for author (Neat to see top kudod solutions by rank!)
• Need a indication / choice of "threads" or "posts" mode of searching
• Multiple sorting options ?
• 10 matches per page isn't too bad if I can go to pg x without needing to advance a pg at a time to an unknown last

Overall a improvement I think

[Laura F.]

Hi All -

A few more thoughts -

Wolfgang - you can change the number of results in the Advanced Search section, but I definitely think it would better if it were not hidden in that section and I've given feedback.

I agree about the type ahead search for user names, it doesn't quite work as well as I'd like.

smercurio - when I follow your steps, I do see the first page of results but then it fairly quickly switches over to the results page I had been on.  Does it not switch for you?

I'm passing along the suggestions / feedback.

Thanks,

Laura