Spotlight Search
1. a ghastly left-navigation
2. splitting our Search box into multiple panes3. highlighting categories on search results pages
4. wiki-style inline links to related categories
5. guiding users into our comprehensive but unwieldy directory
But none of these ever really seemed to work well.
Until now.
Behold... "Spotlight Search"
Now appearing in the upper-left of every Topix page, you'll find a conventional looking search box that does the unthinkable: It actually helps you find categories of news.
Yes, we know it's crazy talk, but just give it a whirl and you'll see. The type-ahead functionality draws from a list of categories (as opposed to the "frequent searches" you'll find on other sites) and the breadth of exposure is pretty dramatic.
Start typing, and in as few as 3 characters you'll start getting deep-links to a lot of great edited & robo-blogged pages. Want to run a regular keyword search? Click the "Search" button and you'll be taken to the good-ol' index of most-recent results.
Hats off to "Skate-Rat" and "The Mage (+25)" for dreaming this impossible dream.
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Comments (3)
On November 30, 2007 4:18 AM, Ranjith Wijewardene said:
"Spotlight Search" is cool and makes using it simple.
On December 6, 2007 11:52 AM, RayAnn said:
I have used it already and it is working out okay . The search before was a bit frustrating . Most of the changes here are working well . I am loving the ease and access !
Now let's all hope it improves my postings ! Thanks Topix !!
On December 25, 2007 6:20 PM, TNBoy said:
Whoo Hoo - Johnson City, TN - That's near me!
Great feature