Check out the new google search!

[neptronix]

Hey all. I finally got google search working in this new version of phpbb. The only plugin available for phpbb was broken out of the box, and i had to fix their code to get working, which was the reason for the big holdup!

Anyhow, google search is dramatically better for finding things on this site in 90% of cases, so give it a try! It's located on the top right half of your screen. ( although mobile users will need to tilt their screens horizontally to see it )

2018-07-22 19_07_19-(53) Endless Sphere - Google.png

[amberwolf]

I get "No results" for searches like
+zero +rim*
(to try to find all the posts about the rims used on Zero motorcycles, of which there are quite a few).

A regular search on just those terms, no modifiers or restrictions
search.php?keywords=%2Bzero+%2Brim*&ter ... mit=Search
finds 596 matches (which would need narrowing down, of course).

It will find results for either term by itself, but cannot find any results at all with both of them.


Other searches like:
+amberwolf +Cruiser
find only 5 results, when it should find hundreds, like this regular search does:
search.php?keywords=%2Bamberwolf+%2BCru ... mit=Search

(Actually, since the google search function is probably searching just whole pages, not individual posts, it should find any page with a post on it with my name (in the post or as author) with the word cruiser anywhere else on the page (including text or titles). So it's pretty strange that it only finds 5 results).


There's probably many other issues with what it can and cant' find, but those were just the first two I tried.



Additionally, there is nothing on the results box to close it and get back to the search terms to modify them.

Clicking outside of the results box closes the results box and clears the search terms completely, so you have to keep typing them all in again and again and again to find what you want if the results don't come out right each time.

[neptronix]

You're welcome

[amberwolf]

Sorry, just thought you would want to know about problems (especially since they're not minor). :/

[nicobie]

That's funny, I found 10 pages of results searching for "amberwolf cruiser"

Anyway, thanks neptronix.

[fechter]

A step in the right direction for sure.

Is there a way to make it do images like the regular Google search?

[amberwolf]

That's funny, I found 10 pages of results searching for "amberwolf cruiser"

That's even stranger; getting different results by different users for the same search.

Perhaps the google search, behind the scenes, is using regular google search "refining" of results by individual user data google has collected (like the way they target ads and such). If so, that could make everyone get different search results, which could make helping people find things with that search function difficult, if it's not consistent.. :/

Hopefully it's something else.


Did you use
+amberwolf +Cruiser
or just
amberwolf Cruiser

With the google search, the former gets me 5 results; the latter 3,120.

It matters because if I *only* want to find posts with *both words*, the + in front of each is important in narrowing down the results so a search doesn't come up with unusably amounts of results.

The forum search gets 923 results in either case (because the defaults assume the + on each term), and 20034 results if I change from
Search for all terms or use query as entered
to
Search for any terms
option, in the forum's search function.

(BTW, it doesn't matter if I use a capital or lowercase C in cruiser or anywhere else in the terms--but I wish all the searches could be forced to use exact case to find things--it could make narrowing searches for certain technical terms and abbreviations easier.)

[neptronix]

That's funny, I found 10 pages of results searching for "amberwolf cruiser"

Anyway, thanks neptronix.

You're welcome. We've needed this for a while!
It's not perfect.. but it does work for now.

[ChargePoint]

Very cool! Thank you

[dustNbone]

I'm not sure Google responds to using + in search terms to refine to only results containing. It seems to just take the words, and rate the results by relevance (as it sees it).

First you get the results that contain the exact phrase, priority to those with the exact phrase in the title or near the top.

Second you get results that contain all the words, but not in the same order as your search terms. Again priority to titles and first paragraphs.

Third you get results that contain some but not all of the words you searched for, most matches first.

The remainder is probably porn.

Of course the reality is far more complex than that, Googles search system is probably their most dearly kept trade secret.

[solarEbike]

Thanks for the work you’ve put into this.

On iPhone 8 Plus running iOS 11.4.1 and latest Chrome browser, I can’t scroll the results. Just seeing the 2 ads.

[e-beach]

When I use the Google Search box from my box it goes like this:

+amberwolf + cruiser

+amberwolf +cruiser.JPG

amberwolf cruiser

amberwolf cruiser.JPG

[dustNbone]

Wow Google is pretty good. Second result is the main thread, first result was from like yesterday.

[lionman]

I think to return searches that only contain the keywords you are searching for, you put each word in quotes.

If you want an exact phrase, put the phrase in quotes.