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* * * * - 4 votes

Easier Documentation Search

Posted by bfarber, 27 July 2010 · 714 views

IPS is constantly looking for ways to improve, and one area of focus is documentation.  We get a lot of feedback regarding documentation, and quite frequently the feedback we receive is, unfortunately, too vague to act on specifically.  It's always a pleasant delight to get specific, focused feedback on how we can improve.

Last week I happened across a topic on our forums with just this kind of feedback, and after reviewing the suggestion and what it would take to implement, we agreed that the work was worth it.  Cap'n Refsmmat posted some well-thought-out, clear and concise feedback on a specific action we could take that would make finding documentation easier, and I'm happy to announce that this change has been put in place on our website.

It was pointed out that as a user, it doesn't matter too much where the documentation you are searching for is located specifically.  Whether it is a community article, official documentation, or an error code - you just want to find out more information, regardless of where that information is located.  Today I built a few Sphinx search indexes of our downloads area, our error codes database, our official documentation, and our community-submitted articles, and then built a search interface to query all of these areas at once.  We have replaced the search form in our documentation area with this new search utility.

Feel free to test out the new search tool and let us know what you think!  Just head on over to our documentation page and use the search box at the top of the page to look for whatever it is you need to find.  We may evolve this new tool further in the future, but for now we hope that it helps you find what you are looking for with less hassle and bouncing around.




(w00t)

I'm sure Cap'n Refsmmat will be happy to know his feedback helped to make a difference. :)
Great, so it is easier to find, before it was too confusing :rolleyes:
All we need now is a link to that area from the forums ;)
Nice change!

All we need now is a link to that area from the forums ;)

You're obviously one of those people who likes to have their cake and eat it too... :lol:

Yeah okay, you're right, that is something we need.
I love you.

(Matt said it is ok to be in love with an inanimate forum software.)
Awesome! This should make my development work much easier. I'm glad someone thought my feedback would be useful...

Now to find out why I don't have permission to view articles in the error codes database.
This is why I love IPS. They actually listen to the customers instead of putting us on the back-burner.
Thats good. Although I do not think I have had issues with the docs. At least it is better then wordpress's docs OMGness those docs are awefull.

Any way good job and keep up the good work.
Recently I had exactly the same problem. Digging in the documentation took some time. I tested that new search, it is awesome now. Thank you!

You're obviously one of those people who likes to have their cake and eat it too... :lol:

Yeah okay, you're right, that is something we need.


hehe - we used to have links here on the forum to the customer area and main site, but they have been gone for a while now. :(

hehe - we used to have links here on the forum to the customer area and main site, but they have been gone for a while now. :(



Using CleanCut then I take it? The default skin still has the menu bar at the top of the page.
oops - so used to the skin - forgot what I was on LOL Yes, hasn't been on it for a while.
There is no pagination on the search results, is this intentional ?

There is no pagination on the search results, is this intentional ?


Yes - that adds a level of complexity not really needed in this situation.
TY!!
Thanks for making the changes
As I'm working on upgrading my forum to 3.1.x, I just wanted to thank Invision for putting this new Documentation search together. It seems to work well and I've been able to find the information I've needed in the last few days. :)

..Al