[pmwiki-users] yet another documentation suggestion ...
Joachim Durchholz
jo at durchholz.org
Tue Aug 2 16:15:28 CDT 2005
Neil Herber wrote:
> That is what I suggested at the end of the posting - that many
> keywords could be added to the target page. That still does not
> provide the browseability of a FAQ unless the search results display
> a summary or teaser text from each page. For example, the hits
> returned for PITS pages are completely useless for deciding upon
> their merit. The results from "limit groups" are: PITS / 00010 00131
> 00358 00417
I see the problem here... only that it's not a problem. PITS is a
repository for questions, not for answers - and a FAQ is (despite its
name) a collection of answers :-)
>> To keep the keyword lists reasonable, I'd suggest adding just the
>> first verb that you used personally.
>>
>> Here's a suggestion for the Search Results page: a text to be
>> displayed if nothing appropriate was found (well, maybe this should
>> be given always):
>>
>> "No topic found? Try some other keywords. NOTE: If you manage to
>> find what you searched for, consider editing the page and rewording
>> it so that the words that didn't find that page are on it, so
>> people who use the same keywords in the future will find the page."
>>
>
> This strikes me as completely unworkable (or highly optimistic!).
> Entering a quoted phrase such as "limit groups" more often than not
> produces no hits.
Most people won't put quotes around the keywords.
> If after several tries I finally get something, do you seriously
> think that I will be in a frame of mind to add (or even remember) the
> phrases that did not work and enter them on the target page?
That's the Wiki Way :-)
> On the other hand, entering the two words "limit" and "groups" gives
> lots of hits that have nothing to do with what I am looking for -
> the search is too broad.
I agree.
Now that's a problem that you have with any large body of text. The
problem really isn't that PmWiki has no FAQ (actually the entire PmWiki
group is one, from a certain perspective); the problem is that searches
don't turn up the "most interesting" results first.
Regards,
Jo
More information about the pmwiki-users
mailing list