searching docs

[Jordan Mantha]

On Tue, May 6, 2008 at 12:25 PM, Matthew East <mdke at ubuntu.com> wrote:

> Hi Matthew,
>
> Thanks for jumping into this. For reference, a discussion of Dustin's
> spec is here:
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-doc/2008-April/010767.html
>
> I posted my own thoughts on it at
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-doc/2008-April/010774.html -
> I'll try not to repeat myself too much below!
>
> On Tue, May 6, 2008 at 6:55 PM, Matthew Nuzum
> <matthew.nuzum at canonical.com> wrote:
> >  First, do we need more than one search results page:
> >   1. A help results page that weights results as listed below - people
> >  use this when search for help
> >   2. A general results page people use this when searching the other
> >  areas of the website
>
> For me this is absolutely essential.
>
> If we are seeking to provide a useful search for users looking for
> help, then a number of websites should not be included in the search
> results: the development wiki, the brainstorm website, the main
> website and bugs.
>

I'd like to just "me too" Matthew's sentiments here. I think the search
needs to be split to focus on at least two relevant search use-cases.
Firstly, for users looking for help and secondly, for
contributors/developers trying to find development-related information.


> If we are going to provide a useful search for those interested in
> Ubuntu as users or potential contributors, then the main website and
> development wiki are the key resources to index, and I think that at
> least some (if not all) of the help websites should be excluded.
>
> The two search features could then be plugged in to appropriate
> places, depending on which type of results is required. I can't think
> of any reason to have a single search.
>
> >  Second, tell me what you think about the weighting:
> >
> >  Think of the weights as a percentage. 1 is the highest, 0 is the
> lowest.
> >
> >  help.ubuntu.com     1
>
> A distinction should be made here between "official" documentation and
> community documentation (help.ubuntu.com/community) - the latter
> should be weighted slightly lower.
>
> >  forums.ubuntu.com 0.8
> >  lists.ubuntu.com   0.8
>
> That works, although I would weight the forum slightly higher, because
> its threads will be simpler for the average user to understand via a
> web interface.
>
> >  wiki.ubuntu.com   0.6
> >  www.ubuntu.com   0.6
>
> Not to be indexed for help - see above.
>
> >  answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/   0.4
>
> Can be indexed with the same weight as mailing lists, I would have
> thought.
>

Can we perhaps fine-tune the searching based on if the question has been
answered. I think one of the most frustrating things for users searching for
help it to see results that look promising but have no solution.

-Jordan
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