Help us improve the site

The Search

Printed From: MetalMusicArchives.com
Category: Site News, Newbies, Help and Improvements
Forum Name: Help us improve the site
Forum Description: Help us improve the forums, and the site as a whole
URL: http://www.MetalMusicArchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=895
Printed Date: 22 Dec 2024 at 5:26pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 10.16 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: The Search

Posted By: Ulfednar
Subject: The Search
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2010 at 5:55am

As I was chatting earlier with http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/forum/member_profile.asp?PF=26990 - a friend , the search doesn't really work, does it?

To be sure, the drop-down results thing is nice, and I'm all for that. However, if one doesn't find the desired result in the list, or just wants to see everything on the site (reviews, band info, news et al.) relating to that search, the search returns.. the index page. That's not cool!

This is even more aggravating when it comes to bands that contain non-standard symbols in the name. Take Negura Bunget, for instance. It's true that the band's name is Negură Bunget, but you'll most commonly see it referred to in the internationally standardised Negura Bunget spelling; try searching for Negura and you'll not get them in the drop-down. The same holds for far more famous bands, like Motorhead or Motley Crue. Actually, Motorhead, one of the most well-known bands ever, is impossible to find on the site, unless you type "mot" and then visually search for them in the list.

Suggestions:

While the adaptive drop-down is nice, it's not a replacement for a standard-behaviour search. That is to say, it's nice to add it on top of a standard search, but not to have it replace a standard search.

Implementing a results approximation script would be nice as well, so that if someone does type NEGURA and hits enter, they wouldn't get a "say what now?" message, but rather a "were you looking for NEGURĂ BUNGET?" message.

Finally, a search results page should contain links to:
- add a missing band. If the users(or bands themselves) can do the research work for you, why not allow them?
- report a mistake. This should be everywhere, makes the users feel in control. :P
- suggest/add a missing-but-named-the-same-band. Ok, so the engine found 5 bands with this name... but I was actually looking for a sixth, and they may be difficult to track down.

Replies:

Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2010 at 5:58am

I just did a normal search for Negura Bunget and it worked. Found me this thread: forum_posts.asp?TID=152&KW=negura+bunget - *fixed* Negura Bunget

EDIT: Oh, do you mean the site search? I thought it was about the forum search, sorry.

Posted By: Vehemency
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2010 at 6:20am

Good ideas there. I believe we will be getting a Google-based search option at some point (which would mean that you can find all kinds of stuff, not only bands), but Google has been acting weirdly with this site so I'm not sure that how this option is developing at the moment. Some light into this, webmasters? Smile

Speaking of Negură Bunget, I have added "Negura Bunget" as an alternative band name for it - that is possible to do here. But that doesn't seem to have improved anything - still impossible to find Negură Bunget when you search Negura Bunget.

Posted By: Ulfednar
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2010 at 7:05am

@harmonium.ro: It's my fault, I didn't specify. Yes, I did mean the site's search, not the forum's.

@vehemency: I'm not big on Google-based internal searches, the result pages are boring and not really helpful to the wondering user.

Since the site (and forum) are .NET-based, I'm afraid I can only suggest changes and improvements but can't offer to implement any, nor suggest any technical fixes.

I can't, however, stress it enough that, given the declared purpose of this website, proper searching facilities and search-engine indexation are imperative. If there's one thing Metal-Archives really sucks at, it's the technical side, and while the mid-90s design and functionality of the site (they use frames, ffs!) "fits" them just as horrible, hissy recording quality "fits" Raw Black Metal, I'm pretty sure being up-to-date with how the modern web operates isn't (yet?) considered "selling out". Smile

Did I mention I consider myself funny?

Posted By: Vehemency
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2010 at 7:16am

I hold in high priority that MMA does things better than EM (Metal Archives), otherwise the purpose of MMA would be almost non-existent. We already have a better looking (and definitely mode modern than EM's) layout but there are many things to still be better in.

But as it its clear, we've been online for 4 months or so, and for that time I think we've been doing rather well. You've made some great suggestions and I hope the webmasters take them into consideration. :-)

Posted By: Ulfednar
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2010 at 7:42am

Vehemency wrote:

I hold in high priority that MMA does things better than EM (Metal Archives)

Yeah, I kinda got that. :)

Vehemency wrote:

But as it its clear, we've been online for 4 months or so, and for that time I think we've been doing rather well.

Nothing beats passion.

Vehemency wrote:

You've made some great suggestions and I hope the webmasters take them into consideration. :-)

And there are plenty more suggestions to be made. But since I'm used to being at the other end of web-app. improvements (I'm a webdesigner), I know how irritating it is when someone acts like they know better, making demands and so forth. As such, at least for now, I'll stick to just the improvements/modifications that I believe to be vital.

I'm just providing constructive criticism as best I know how. And you know what they say: all critics are a-holes, some are just more full of shit than others. Tongue

Posted By: graphix
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2010 at 12:47pm

Thanks Ulfednar for the great suggestions you made here. We really appreciate this and don't take personally any criticism that is made diplomatically like you did. We know the site isn't perfect and there is place for improvements. The site is pretty new (a few months old like Vehemency said) and it was built and is maintain on a partial time basis. Technically, all you suggestions are doable, and like I say to my boss at work, the limit is not what can be done but when (or at what cost) you need it!

Standard search

At first, we were waiting for Google to index the entire site and provide at least a Google site search before develop our own. Yes, Google is not the prettiest way to display a search result but it's better than not having any site search like now Confused

. Like Vehemency said, Google acted strangely indexing our site for now. For example, today, Google said they have about 5,650 results for site:www.metalmusicarchives.com when in fact, we have more than 50,000 pages (albums + artists + reviews + forum, ...). So developing our own site search should be prioritized... and we'll consider the suggestions you made

Non-standard symbols in the name (artist search drop-down list)

I have already started to fix this exact same issue to improve the artist search. I expect this to be done soon. Geek

If you have other ~~criticism~~ suggestions Wink

, don't hesitate to post them, if they are good Tongue

, they will be added to our to-dos list!

Posted By: UMUR
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2010 at 1:09pm

That�s one of the great things about being part of a new site. You have the opportunity to be part of forming the site into a great place.

-------------
http://www.lyngby-boldklub.dk/" rel="nofollow - Forever TRUE - Forever BLUE!
https://rateyourmusic.com/~UMUR" rel="nofollow - UMUR on RYM

Posted By: Vehemency
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2010 at 1:45pm

[slightly off-topic] Wow, I'm actually starting to get search results when putting some underground band names into Google (and on first page)! In some cases they are higher than EM. "Chronaexus", for example, is the 8th search result.