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Better Search Parameters within HubPages

  1. Aficionada profile image94
    Aficionadaposted 6 years ago

    I've been frustrated several times by knowing a little, but not quite enough, about a Hub I want to read.  When I go to the Advanced Search function within HubPages, I can't find a way to enter the information I know in order to use it effectively.

    For example, earlier today I saw the title of a Hub I want to read, but I delayed in order to take care of other matters first.  I remembered the author's name and the topic, but not the title.  When I went to search for it from the author's profile, it was impossible to find the one I wanted because there were so many. 

    I tried entering both the topic and the author's name in the HubPages search box (regular and advanced search), but it looks for the Author's name within the text of the Hub and therefore gives me useless results.  A similar situation has happened other times.

    Is there a better way to conduct this kind of search within HubPages?  Would it work better for me just to go to Google or other really powerful search engines?  Is there a way the search function within HubPages can be upgraded?

    1. larryfreeman profile image83
      larryfreemanposted 6 years ago in reply to this

      Hi Aficionada,

      Thanks very much for your feedback.

      What was the author's name and what was the topic?  I'd be interested in trying it out.

      The best way to handle this search is to go to the author's profile page, then list out any words that you remember from the article.

      What additional features would you like to see that would make our search easier to use?

      Thanks,

      -Larry

    2. Marisa Wright profile image92
      Marisa Wrightposted 6 years ago in reply to this

      I've had the same experience many times.  One example - I knew Embitca had a Hub on copyright-free photos, but couldn't find it from her profile. 

      I may be imagining it, but I thought that once upon a time, the profile search only gave you the person's Hubs - then there was a tag cloud which you could use to narrow down your search.

      1. pauldeeds profile image
        72
        pauldeedsposted 6 years ago in reply to this
        1. Marisa Wright profile image92
          Marisa Wrightposted 6 years ago in reply to this

          Yes I know Paul, I did find it eventually by using those two words.  The thing is, I didn't think of using those two words for ages. 

          I've several times wanted to go back to some of Hal Licino's Hubs on various subjects, and have given up.

  2. Aficionada profile image94
    Aficionadaposted 6 years ago

    Larry and Paul -

    Thanks so much, guys, for responding!

    I've just spent about fifteen minutes trying to reconstruct my search and update it, since I keep seeing new things that have always been here but which I hadn't noticed.

    First, the author and topic (today's search) were:  Patty English and music.  Patty, as you know, has well over 1000 hubs.

    One new thing I just learned is that there is a separate search box on a Hubber's profile page. [Slapping forehead in amazement.] That helped - some.  Three possible changes I can suggest that might help with that specific search process would be: 1) to move the profile page search box higher on the page so that it is more or less directly under the general search box and therefore easier to find; 2) in the "scope your search" capsule, to make the background color of the capsule 1-2 shades darker, to provide stronger contrast with the selected segment of HubPages that is being scoped; 3) on the results page, to provide an option of viewing more than ten items on a page (I was able to reduce Patty's opus to 373 items; at 10 per page, that's still 37 pages to review).

    I don't know whether any of these suggestions would be possible, and there may be good reasons why they mightn't work - but, for what they're worth, there they are.

    More to come momentarily, but I'll submit this part now. Thanks.

    1. larryfreeman profile image83
      larryfreemanposted 6 years ago in reply to this

      Hi Aficionada,

      Thanks very much for the comments.  I will add these feature requests to our list of features to consider.

      Cheers,

      -Larry

  3. darkside profile image84
    darksideposted 6 years ago

    vBulletin has excellent search functions/features. If you could integrate the functionality of a vBulletin search into the punBB application it would be great.

  4. Aficionada profile image94
    Aficionadaposted 6 years ago

    On the (general) Advanced Search page, I had never noticed that I could change the scoping (?) word in the top box of the page.  But even when I scrolled through the list and narrowed it to Hubbers, then typed Patty's name into the adjacent search box, and typed "music" into the search box below, I still received many more hits than I could cope with.

    Is there a way to include a search box (in Advanced Search) that would search a word in the title instead of, or in addition to, the content?  [Is that something that is present now, but that I have not seen?]

    I like the idea that the current Advanced Search allows for input of many different search terms for the content - but I actually hadn't gotten into the article enough (today) to know what was in the content.

    I'm also not certain where it was I saw the title earlier, but I think it may have been one of the Featured Hubs.  I wonder if another helpful option (helping in the search) would be to provide a search box for "date seen as a featured Hub"? - perhaps not necessarily an exact date but something like "this week," "last week," "last month."  That might not be remotely possible, or there might merely be an outside limit as to how long the (computer) memory of Featured Hubs lasts.

    But, in good news.... A couple of days ago I ran a search for another article that I had actually read, couldn't find it, posted a question in a forum, and received some terrific suggestions that helped me out - even though they were not the Hub I was seeking.  Today I ran across that elusive Hub, because I had made a comment on it which the Hubber had answered and which I had forgotten, then ran across today. So I am learning new ways of finding misplaced material.  Hooray. big_smile

    Thanks again, Fellas.

    And thanks for the recent reply, Larry

    1. Marisa Wright profile image92
      Marisa Wrightposted 6 years ago in reply to this

      Yes, I think that would help.

      In the example I gave, the words "copyright photos" got the right result - but if embitca finished her Hubs with a copyright statement, as some do, that search would've returned pages and pages of results (try searching for the word "photos" in her Hubs).

      Hal's Hubs are the same - type in "Windows Vista" and see how many come up.  If I only want Hubs that are specifically about Windows Vista, rather than all the Hubs that merely mention it, there's no way I can do that.

  5. Aficionada profile image94
    Aficionadaposted 6 years ago

    I think it also helps to spell a name correctly.  I did manage to get to the right page for Patty Inglish, even though I mistyped her name.  Patty, if you read this, I'm sorry about the multiple misspellings! (Technically, I'm sorry about it whether you read this or not.)

 
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