How To Implement Weblog Search

Russ Lipton Documents Radio
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Sure, it would be nice if Userland provided intra-weblog search on top of all the other outrageously inexpensive features they are giving us. Only, just maybe, this wouldn't be a very wise business move at the moment, given the costs of delivering that capability.

It would also be nice if we could implement Goodle's own (free!) intra-weblog search capability. Alas, this works if you have your own domain name (mydomain.com) but not if your weblog is hosted through a directory (http://radio.weblogs.com/0100059/) like most of us.

There are a variety of free or mostly-free search engines on the Web. Most of them offer free features up to a certain level of usage and then start imposing fees. Indeed, they should do so. While different people favor different products, I have been quite impressed by PicoSearch - a thank you to fellow Radio user Roland Piquepaille for his recommendation.

This topic will not take you through every last nano-step for setting up PicoSearch but I hope to come close enough that you will be emboldened to give it a shot.

Why Bother?

You probably don't really need a search engine for your weblog unless you post early and often. If you do, your readers will thank you for taking the trouble to help them search your site by key word to find documents of interest to them.

If you don't, you can skip this topic.

On the other hand, I don't think it took me longer than 30 minutes (spread over a couple of sessions) to implement PicoSearch. Once done, I had (have) a search engine on my site ... forever. Or, at least, I hope so.

More precisely, while the free version of PicoSearch doesn't automatically index my pages beyond the first time, I can call for a manual reindex of my pages as often as I want - 1,500 pages. And, as they say, that's not all! Since I'm not trying to see you on PicoSearch per se, check out their FAQ for specifics.

You can also check out the search engine on my home page and then return here.

Setting Up an Account

Here is the drill.

1. Go to PicoSearch. Yeah, duh. I am a very literal guy.

2. The screen shot below is taken directly from their home page:

Enter your complete Radio URL and real email address and press Submit.

3. These screen captures step you through the same steps that I followed:

These fields are self-explanatory - and required.

PicoSeach automatically fills in the URL you provided at the beginning. Most likely, this will be sufficient for your Radio site. However, let's say that you had a second URL which also pointed to the same set of documents as the first one. In that case, enter it above.

Unless you're Chinese, you may not proceed. (Hint: that was an attempt at humor).

You might be tempted to select Domain Level Restriction. Don't. If you do, PicoSearch will find lots of documents on Userland's Community Server besides your own. Directory level indexing is the ticket.

I experimented with building on- and off-line.

On-line building is quite cool providing (as they say) that you don't have a lot of documents. This applies to most Radio users at the present time.

I'll let you carry on with PicoSearch from here. It ain't hard. Trust me.

Inserting PicoSearch Code Into Your Weblog Home Page Template

The folks at PicoSearch will send your email account a snippet of their code when your account has been set up and indexed. While you can place this code just about anywhere you want, I decided to place a search box directly under my navigation links. I will show you how to do that here. Once you have done that, you will feel more confident about moving it around to suit yourself.

Here is how you do it:

1. Go to the Templates section of Prefs from the Radio Command Menu:

Choose the Home page template item.

2. Paste the PicoSearch code just below the Navigator Links macro:

Well, you didn't think I would give you access to PicoSearch code directly, did you?

Simply note the position of the code - below the <%navigatorLinks%> macro and directly above my use of the Google Box Macro. Also note my use of <br> tags to introduce a bit of space between the elements.

One pertinent note: I deleted a portion of the supplied code that read like this ...

This code places a PicoSearch label and image directly adjacent to the search field. You may want to keep it. I didn't. The PicoSearch agreement does request that we either display the logo or text thatl inks to them. I have placed the phrase 'Powered by PicoSearch' under my search box with a live link to the PicoSearch web site.

PicoSearch does place its own branding on the search results page. A typical results page from my site for the search term "weblog posts" looked like this (this is a partial screen capture):

I am more than happy for PicoSearch to receive due credit for their gift to me in this way. They could use a better logo, though, if you ask me.

(By the way, their paid versions have surprisingly reasonable pricing and allow for ample customization and complete hiding of their branding. If you are a small business who can justify the expense, consider it.

Invoking the Manual Reindex Process

As a simple guide to reindexing your webpage in case you forget:

1. Go to PicoSearch and click the 'registers users' link in their left panel.

2. Enter your email address and password. You will have received an email record of this after you establish your account the first time.

3. Go to your Account Management page and choose the Reindex Web Site link. This will return you to the original panel for indexing on-line or off-line. Make your selection, press the Reindex Web site button and off you go.

4. PicoSearch will send you an email confirming that they are reindexing your site. If a problem is encountered, you will be notified by email as well. Pretty cool.

That's it. You are now your own private Google ... or Google work-alike.

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