How to improve search command in Phpld?

Discussion in 'Directories' started by ! Ask !, Nov 9, 2006.

  1. #1
    Hi,
    I think one of the week points in phpld is a very poor search command, does anybody knows how to improve it?
    Cheers
     
    ! Ask !, Nov 9, 2006 IP
  2. an0n

    an0n Prominent Member

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    #2
    well, what exactly would you like to better?

    lets have a brainstorming session here :)
     
    an0n, Nov 9, 2006 IP
  3. ! Ask !

    ! Ask ! Peon

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    #3
    Ok, normally queries with 2 or more terms just return useless results, and the search doesn’t order right by importance, also on the search results the terms of the query should be highlighted.
    I think the search algorithm query could be much improved.
     
    ! Ask !, Nov 9, 2006 IP
  4. EveryQuery

    EveryQuery Well-Known Member

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    #4
    I do agree their could be improvements. I want all the cool advanced features that Google has, gosh darn it! :p
     
    EveryQuery, Nov 9, 2006 IP
  5. an0n

    an0n Prominent Member

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    #5
    in your admin

    system->edit settings->directory

    scroll down and what is your search set to? boolean: yes or no?
     
    an0n, Nov 9, 2006 IP
  6. ! Ask !

    ! Ask ! Peon

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    #6
    When I use 2 terms on the queries the results are useless no matter if Boolean is enabled or not. :D

    For example the search "dating english" on my directory
    http://ask-dir.com/index.php?search=dating+english
    the last result should be the first, because is the most important
     
    ! Ask !, Nov 9, 2006 IP
  7. an0n

    an0n Prominent Member

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    #7
    hrmm i see what you are saying. i think maybe this is something that can be worked upon in 3.11
     
    an0n, Nov 9, 2006 IP
  8. ! Ask !

    ! Ask ! Peon

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    #8
    Thanks for having a look at it, I think “search” is one of the most important part in a directory and it as been somehow neglected on phpld.
     
    ! Ask !, Nov 9, 2006 IP
  9. mystikmedia

    mystikmedia Jedi Master

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    #9
    Keep us posted here if you do anything with this, Rob.
     
    mystikmedia, Nov 9, 2006 IP
  10. an0n

    an0n Prominent Member

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    #10
    Actually the search was rewritten completely for i believe v3.04.
    It definately wasn't neglected :)

    I can see what you're getting at as you want to search to be 'smarter' and to compare relevancy. We are talking SE type smartness in terms of relevance here. That'd definately be a task at hand.

    you'd have to think of where you would want your strongest factors to be located. e.g. the Title? the URL? the Description? maybe the Meta? And then you have to run checks like, Do they even allow Meta data? Taking it crazy further, with multiple key phrases, there could be a 'scrambled' variations is result sets like, for example;

    we'll use 'Title' as the strongest point with 'dating english' as the key phrase.

    now:
    did 'dating' come first or did 'english' come first in the strong point results of the 'titles'

    title examples:
    English dating game
    Dating on the web in english

    so then you'd have to return the results in a hierarchical order based on key phrase placement which has to be broken down into an array on where it was placed.

    and although the returned rsults was
    1. English dating game
    2. Dating on the web

    it would have to be rearranged to:
    1. Dating on the web
    2. English dating game

    because the key phrase and the emphasized word of 'dating' came first in the search phrase and in the title itself it's placement was first as well.

    follow what i mean here and the complexity that would be involved?
     
    an0n, Nov 10, 2006 IP
  11. ! Ask !

    ! Ask ! Peon

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    #11
    Very interesting, I think putting the search smarter should be high on the priority lists.
    Don’t know if it helps I use this free software to index sites and works very well, probably looking in the source you could find interesting tips, to improve search.
    If you make a module for smart search I have no problem paying for it (a reasonable price :)), and probably many others.
    Thanks for your interest.
     
    ! Ask !, Nov 10, 2006 IP