Maybe I am just blind or stupid or something, but I couldn't find a way to search the Gentoo site for an arbitrary term. "mirrorselect netselect" in my case, because I wanted to know how these tools work and hoped to find some posting or document. But it was not to be. :-) Anyway, you can offer a simple search via google.com without any effort at all. But this would probably perform significantly worse than running a good engine yourself, with a specific data base! In any case, it would be nice to have something like that.
this is on the plans for later. we need to find a search engine that is reasonably scalable. quick tests with ht://dig and others proved insufficient. marking as later.
What about using one of those free online services? I guess google provides a way to incorporate their search engine into website, and I believe it is working quite well.
IMHO the quality of hits produced by Google is not as good as the one produced by a locally running search engine, naturally, because Google doesn't have as much data as a locally running search engine has. But nonetheless Google would be a "quick way" to remedy the situation, and it's much better than nothing. The tricky part is IMHO how to include the discussion boards, etc. into the search. Much useful information is _there_, not on the web site itsef.
Just a proposal: Did you looked at swish-e (http://swish-e.org/). On another site I'm maintaining we made quite good experiences with it.
Any chance that we implement something before the redesign? Or should I leave out the SEARCH functionality in the new design?
*** Bug 51037 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
A search functionality is a high priority for gentoo.org. Many users have inquired why this feature has not been offered. The new redesign is a perfect opportunity to implement it. Google offers a free site search that can be customized for non-profit organizations such as gentoo. Gentoo qualifies under googles terms for this FREE service. As a non-profit, gentoo search results will NOT show ads other than a simple text link back to the main www.google.org website. Furthermore, the results page is customizable with the Header and Footer. The result page can incorporate the new nav bar and footer so it will appear as a gentoo page. The "look and feel" of gentoo.org will not be compromised. Reports are made available. These reports can be used to see what users are actually searching for. We can use this info to prioritize the creation of docs and FAQ's among other things. http://services.google.com/publicservice/login Some of the services available are: # Free SiteSearch with optional WebSearch # No advertising # Unlimited queries # Traffic reports # High level of customization from the google Public Service FAQ: Who is eligible for the Public Service Search program? Any not-for-profit organization, as defined by Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3), including any accredited university or educational institution, is eligible for Google's Public Service Search program. An overview of the requirements for qualifying as a 501(c)(3) organization can be found at http://www.irs.gov/charities/charitable/article/0,,id=96099,00.html. The statute language is available from http://www.fourmilab.ch/ustax/www/t26-A-1-F-I-501.html#(c)(3). Organizations outside of the United States may apply if they fall into a similar category as described in Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3). Google reserves the right to discontinue search service to any applicant that is not a non-profit institution. Multiple departments and organizations within the same organization can sign up for Google's Public Service Search program. If you aren't eligible for the Public Service Search program, please look into our other search options. 2. Is the program really free? Yes! This is a free program. 17. How do I customize my Public Service Search? The first step of the registration process is to customize your search results page. The HTML text boxes for the header and footer of your search results give you tremendous flexibility in tailoring the look and feel of the results to your web site, including navigational elements or other custom needs. A preview function is provided to ensure that your customizations are accurately reflected on your search results page. If you have already registered, you can view the HTML to create your customized search box: * Log in to the Public Service Search service using your email and password. * Click the "Update Customizations" link. Please note that advertisements cannot be included in the header or footer of your Public Service Search results pages. If you would like to show advertisements on your search results pages, and earn money from clicks on ads, please read about AdSense for search at https://www.google.com/adsense/ws-overview.
The option provided in #7 seems like a really good idea...
In response to #7, I'd just like to add that Google will also address #3. In fact, I find that for forum search, it can work better than the phpBB search (sometimes things are missing in the phpBB results that are present in the Google results). I think it (#7) is definitely the most viable option presented so far and Gentoo qualifies for it.
*** Bug 82025 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
