Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 timwhite Oct 23, 2008 11:05:30	The wizards.com search has always been a source of frustration for me, but with the addition of D&DI, it's become somewhat of a nightmare. And, since it's now a product I'm paying for, I'd like to offer my thoughts on how I'd like it to work. :D Here are a couple of real-world use cases: C1) In Randy's D&DI launch article, he mentions a Dragon article on warlocks. Since the article wasn't linked-to in the post, I did a search on 'warlock'. R1) Result: I'm not sure I even found one hit on the first page of the search results that was for 4e, much less the article in question. C2) Someone emails to a list I'm on: "Hey, where's the 4e errata docs?", so I did a search for "4e errata". R2) Result: 4 hits, none of which were the 4e errata page. So, with those two real-world use cases out of the way, here's my top 10 search wishlist: 1) I'd like to be able to limit my searches to 4e content only. 2) I'd like to be able to limit my searches to D&DI content only. 3) I'd like the D&D Compendium search to include a tab with Dragon article results, and Dungeon adventures. (e.g. if I search for "mind flayers" I could get a list of adventures from Dungeon that make use of them) 4) I'd like the main search results to be broken down into news, adventures, articles, rules (like errata and sage advice), and products, in the same way that Amazon search results are broken down into books, CDs, etc. 5) I'd like the search results to indicate whether they are free content or D&DI paid content, thus perhaps enticing me to subscribe if I didn't already (which I of course do, but Joe the Searcher might not yet). 6) I'd like the search results to include the D&DI PDF documents directly, but to indicate whether they are web pages or PDFs. 7) I'd like the search results to return reference material like rules errata, updates, rulebooks (like the DDM rulebook), and so forth ranked higher than news articles. 8) I'd like the search results to include individual D&D minis. (e.g. search for 'beholder' and return a group of hits for each of the various beholder minis that have come out over the years). 9) I'd like to have the search results include a 'buy now from retailer X' button that hot links over to a randomly selected retailer who has paid to be in the pool of people who appear there. Including for individual out of print D&D minis that I need for my game next week. 10) I'd like the administrators to analyze common search terms, and build a hot-link sidebar of the most commonly searched-for items. I know that these requests aren't easy to implement, but with the massive amount of content that is on this site, search improvements can go a long way to making people feel like they are getting their money's worth...because they can actually find what they are looking for. Right now, I suspect that most visitors can't really grasp how much good material is here... Thanks! Tim
#2 whitebaron Oct 23, 2008 11:09:54	as for the errata, this is just a new phrasing - they are called updates now. a search for updates in the dungeon and dragon section lists it as entry #4. what i do not understand, however is why news about webpage updates from 2006 are so high in their search results. i'd rather have wotc buy google search for their site instead of implementing it themselves.
#3 ah_graht_dup Oct 27, 2008 16:46:53	Try using Google to do a site search In Google's search box type: site:www.wizards.com/dnd/ errata I stopped using site owned search engines a long time ago and Google almost never fails me.