DVDizzy Forum

I've had this idea for a thread brewing in my mind and made caps for it some time ago, but never really got around to writing it all out until now, so UD readers, I present...

<center>THE SEARCH OPTION: A BASIC TUTORIAL FOR THE NEW FORUM MEMBER

(And for redundancy, the same thing again...)


A Play by
Albert "Escapay" Gutierrez</center>

Member: Hello, Search Option!

Search Option: Why, hello, Member! It's so nice of you to visit!

Member: I know, not too many people come by to see you.

Search Option: Well, Escapay's always out and about using me.

Member: Crazy old Escapay.

(The two laugh).

Search Option: So, what is it you're looking for?

Member: Well, I'd really like to know if Chicken Little came with a slipcover.

Search Option: No problem, let me show you how to find out!



Search Option: As you can see, there are many areas for me to help you search!

Member: Wow, I had no idea!

Search Option: Let's go through each one of them step by step. The first section you see is called the Query Section. Here, you'll start with the Search for Keyword. This allows you to type in the keyword of the specific thread you are looking for.

Member: So in here, I would type in slipcover?



Search Option: Yes! But to make sure that you get threads about slipcovers, we'll need to elaborate more. There are two options. You can search for Any Terms or you can search for All Terms. I think we should use All Terms, as it's only one word.

Member: Okay, I see. But what's the Search for Author section?

Search Option: Well, if you knew who the author was, but weren't sure of the thread title, you can place his name in here. Jake Lipson started the Definitive Slipcover Thread, but I'm getting ahead of myself. After the Query Section is the Search Options (no relation) section. We can specify our searches even more.

Member: You mean we can do more beyond Keyword and Author?



Search Option: Why of course, child! The first section we come to is the Forum Option. It lets us search for the thread based on a specific forum, such as General Discussion, Off-Topic, International DVD, and so on and so forth. We'll use General Discussion, since that's where Slipcover threads most likely will be.



Member: Because people love talking about slipcovers, right?

Search Option: Er...no. But people do talk about them a lot. Now, the next section is called Search Previous. It allows you to go through posts and topics, and can pinpoint within the day, week, month, or year. I'll leave it at All Posts for now. But there are three more options.



Member: There's more?!?

Search Option: Yes! And they're all very easy to use! The first option is Search Topic Title and Message Text. It will help me find your keyword in both the title and the text. The second, obviously, is Search Message Text Only. For example, if you were looking for the phrase "tree-killing DVD condom", but knew it wasn't the name of the thread, you would use this option. Finally, we've got Search Topic Title Only. This is best to use if you know at least a portion of the title. In this case, we know it will have the word slipcover, so we'll use that option.

Members: And now we can hit "Search", right?




Search Option: Not quite. We've got a couple more areas to cover. Category offers All Available and Forum Home, though I've found both are pretty interchangeable, so we can leave him be for now. But we've also got Sort By.... This gives us several options, to search by post time, subject, topic, author, or forum. I've often found it best to simply use Post Time, and to get the latest threads, pick Descending.

Member: So I'm guessing the last two areas help to display the search?

Search Option: Yes! You're getting the hang of this!

Member: I'm so glad!

Search Option: Now, we know we're looking for a specific thread, so we keep the option on Topic. As for how many we return, the default is already 200, which is enough, but you can change this option to All or even 1000!

Member: 1000 topics about slipcovers? I think I've died and gone to heaven!

Search Option. Not really, it gives the option to show 1000 results, if there are 1000 results solely about slipcovers.

Member: So when it's all done on this page, what does it look like?

Search Option: Why it looks a little something like this:


Member: That's amazing! Now we can hit "Search"?

Search Option: Go right ahead.


Member: So these are the latest results from my search! Wow, it's got only 20 matches! And it looks like the one I need is third on the list!

Search Option: Yes, and there's also several relevant topics you should check too, which is why I've circled them. But let's pay attention to Jake Lipson's. When we click on it, we'll find a definitive list, and here's a great example:



Member: Wow...it looks like Chicken Little doesn't have a slipcover. But, wait...why are the words highlighted like that?

Search Option: Because these were the words you told me to look for, therefore, I made sure to remember the words are there. They're highlighted so I know and you know that's what was being searched.

Member: Oh, I see!

Tarzan: Oh, I see! Tarzan...oh, I see!

Jane: No, no, no, no. *ahem* I'm Jane.

Tarzan: No, no, no, no. *ahem* I'm Jane.

Jane: No, no. Jane...Tarzan...Jane.

Tarzan: Jane.

Search Option: Oops, sorry, I drifted off for awhile. Now then, we've got Tarzan out of the way, for fun let's try and find any topic that is about the Loomis Pants Forum. What would we search for?

Member: Let me try this..okay, I'll type in Loomis Pants Forum, and pick "All Terms". I'm not sure which forum it is, so I'll use "All Available" for now, and I don't think it's an actual topic, but I don't want to limit myself, so I'll use "Search Topic Title and Message Text". So, does this look good?



Search: Yes, this is good. I'll hit "Search". And here's what you'll find.



Search Option: I've circled the three best options for you.

Member: Gee, thanks so much, Search Option! I'm going to use you from now on!

Search Option: No problem, I love the company! Looking forward to seeing you again!

THE END.



Escapay

This is great! I'd love to see it as an ongoing series which points out all the areas of UD. Like where on the front page to look for various things. It's probably not the best site design if a road map is needed to know all the parts of the front page, but it's been maintained long enough that I feel regular readers should be plenty familiar with the layout now.

Escapay, you have way too much time on your hands, lol. But I truely apprieciate it, as well as others!

Nice article, very informative, easy to understand and funny too. Maybe it could be stickied to cut down on repeated topics?

Lukester wrote:This is great!

Thanks, Lukester!

Lukester wrote:I'd love to see it as an ongoing series which points out all the areas of UD. Like where on the front page to look for various things.

Hmm, I hadn't thought about making it a series, since I figured the Search Option would be the best tutorial for a new member. However, given the many "Is there a review for this DVD?" or "When does this DVD come out?" threads, perhaps we do need a main page tutorial. Given the fact that this took me a month (compare the screencap dates), I fear for how long it'd take me to do one about the main page! But if it helps the new user, I'll work on something one of these days.

Siren wrote:Escapay, you have way too much time on your hands, lol.

This is what happens when NBC pre-empts Heroes and Studio 60 for The Year Without Santa Claus.

Siren wrote:But I truely apprieciate it, as well as others!

RachaelSmachael wrote: Nice article, very informative, easy to understand and funny too.

Thanks to both of you!

Escapay

Pure genius Mr. Gutierrez! Pure genius!


Your month-long work really payed off. And I thought I took long by using about 4 or 5 days making my Chicken Little 10 Disc Collector's Edition.

This needs to be a sticky.

very well done Thanks Escapay !

Escapay wrote:Member: Crazy old Escapay.

Townsperson: He's always good for a laugh.

Gaston: Crazy old Escapay...crazy old Escapay, hmm...LeFou I'm afraid I've been thinking.

LeFou: A dangerous pasttime-

Gaston: I know. But that wacky old coot is-

Escapay: *ahem*

Gaston: Sorry.

Stick this. NOW.
Great job, Escapay!

Very entertaining Escapay! Yes, I second that - it should be a sticky. It would help me to have it hanging around as a sticky because I tend to forget how to use features, if I don't use them often. I've never really explored all the possible search options so this was very informative. I liked how you used slipcovers as the example.

Congratulations on making it to Sticky Status, Escapay! I really liked your humor, from "Crazy old Escapay" to "because everyone loves talking about slipcovers, right?" and Search Option replying "Er...no". Really, this was something helpful to UD that was entertaining and educational! Educational in the sense that now people have learned how to use Search...and that Search exists.

Wow! I never expected this to be stickied, I was thinking it'd end up as a Helpful Link in the other thread! I feel so honored now! Thanks to everyone who's read and commented on this!

And numba1...

Escapay

Congrats Escapay To Making this thread Sticky. I think your next project should be the following.

DON'T MAKE NEW THREADS ABOUT SLIPCOVERS OR SUFFER THE WRATH OF ESCAPAY!!

Well perhaps don't include the "OR SUFFER THE WRATH OF ESCAPAY"

Again congrats and thanks for a very informative thread that turned Sticky

Hey! My name is in one of the caps... twice!

*sniff* You love me... you really love me!

...



Good tutorial, Escapay. I hope this helps the n00bs (and some of us older members...*points to just myself, who is actually Just Myself*) out when it comes to creating new topics.

Cheers,
JM

This is a wonderful tutorial! I actually used it! I can't remember what the search was for, but there was a thread already there, and I just decided to use it.

This is great!

Escapy- that was hilarious!!! A perfect way to get us all to use the search engine!! Thank you so much for the help!!

Congrats for making it to sticky status!!!
This is a must-see thread for everyone here.

That was nice of you to take your time and make a search tutorial. Its very helpful actually. Because I've been a memeber for some time now and I didnt even know it had one! lol.

Good job, brother! Congratulations, and you stink for having too much free time.

Pluto Region1 wrote:It would help me to have it hanging around as a sticky because I tend to forget how to use features

I know, I always forget how we help UD through Amazon shopping. The logic always boggles my mind, but now it's so easy!

The search option doesn't circle the top three relevant topics for me. How do you turn that on?