Dark Messenger
March 19th, 2006, 03:55 AM
This seems like something that should be a no brainer to most but here's a twist.
At the top of most pages there is navigational panel or tool bar with a series of hyperlinks running across your screen...Some options include 'user CP' , 'Photo Gallery' , 'FAQ' , 'Calender' , 'New Posts' , 'Search' and 'Quick Links'
The one we want to deal with today is the 'Search' feature. To begin simply click the link for 'Search' after doing so a small box will appear from which you can type in a word or phrase for something you are looking for information about on the site. Just type in a keyword or phrase and click the 'go' button its that simple.
However let's try something a little different. Instead of just clicking that go button let's do this:
Instead of typing in a keyword and clicking 'go' immediately, click on the 'Advanced Search (http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/search.php)' feature instead which should bring you to this page (http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/search.php)
From here you are presented with a variety of options of which I will now show you the best ones to choose.
From this page you may still enter in key words or phrases for what you are looking for information about.
After that you have the option directly below that to choose to search entire posts or thread tiltes only...choose whatever suits your taste.
You will get more results by choosing to search entire posts which is the default option and isn't necessary to change at all.
The only other thing that makes a big difference to you on the Advanced Search page is how the search results are returned to you.
At the very bottom left hand corner of the Advanced Search page (http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/search.php) there is the option to select 'Show results as' Threads or Posts.
Choose to show results as 'Posts' that way you can preview a little bit of the post to determine if it contains information that is right for you otherwise you will just get the threads name back in a search result which tells you nothing about the content in the thread.
Here's the best part;
How to share your search result with others.
How many of you have made a search on zeropaid and Failed to be able to share the results of your search with others because you provide a link that's similiar to this one (http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/search.php?searchid=469281)?
Now when a friend or someone other than yourself clicks on This link (http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/search.php?searchid=469281) also known as 'your link (http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/search.php?searchid=469281)' they get the message 'invalid search id' or no search results can be found.
This happens because of a flaw in the way the forum software is set up. It doen't allow you to share your results with others from a simple link however I've found a workaround that so far will yield the desire result but still isn't perfect.
The search result of 'this link (http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/search.php?searchid=469281)' was made by search for the keyword 'newsgroups' (without the quotes) and was made using the following criteria 'search Titles only' and show results as 'posts' <--- here I made a variation on my suggested recommendation to search entire posts and view the results as posts not just titles.
Anyway when doing this it gives me this link (http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/search.php?searchid=469281) which I cannot share with anyone else because its a generic search id calculated by user and password hash and expires in about 300seconds or 5 minutes.
However I can still show you my search results...how?
On the same page where your results are returned with the search id in the address bar look below the hyperlink for 'User CP' you should see the word ''Search': Key Word(s): 'and the term you searched for' underlined.
In the example above I searched for 'newsgroups' selecting to search through thread titles only and return results as posts so here is what I see under 'User CP'
I see this:
Search: Key Word(s): newsgroups
Now just Select the part that says 'Search right-click on it and choose 'copy shortcut'
you can now paste that into your post by selecting an empty area in the reply box and clicking on CTRL + V
Anyone can now view the results of your search as it will take them to the advanced search page given the criteria you used to make your own search and by simply clicking the 'Search Now' button at the bottom of the page can get the same results as you.
Hope this helps.
At the top of most pages there is navigational panel or tool bar with a series of hyperlinks running across your screen...Some options include 'user CP' , 'Photo Gallery' , 'FAQ' , 'Calender' , 'New Posts' , 'Search' and 'Quick Links'
The one we want to deal with today is the 'Search' feature. To begin simply click the link for 'Search' after doing so a small box will appear from which you can type in a word or phrase for something you are looking for information about on the site. Just type in a keyword or phrase and click the 'go' button its that simple.
However let's try something a little different. Instead of just clicking that go button let's do this:
Instead of typing in a keyword and clicking 'go' immediately, click on the 'Advanced Search (http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/search.php)' feature instead which should bring you to this page (http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/search.php)
From here you are presented with a variety of options of which I will now show you the best ones to choose.
From this page you may still enter in key words or phrases for what you are looking for information about.
After that you have the option directly below that to choose to search entire posts or thread tiltes only...choose whatever suits your taste.
You will get more results by choosing to search entire posts which is the default option and isn't necessary to change at all.
The only other thing that makes a big difference to you on the Advanced Search page is how the search results are returned to you.
At the very bottom left hand corner of the Advanced Search page (http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/search.php) there is the option to select 'Show results as' Threads or Posts.
Choose to show results as 'Posts' that way you can preview a little bit of the post to determine if it contains information that is right for you otherwise you will just get the threads name back in a search result which tells you nothing about the content in the thread.
Here's the best part;
How to share your search result with others.
How many of you have made a search on zeropaid and Failed to be able to share the results of your search with others because you provide a link that's similiar to this one (http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/search.php?searchid=469281)?
Now when a friend or someone other than yourself clicks on This link (http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/search.php?searchid=469281) also known as 'your link (http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/search.php?searchid=469281)' they get the message 'invalid search id' or no search results can be found.
This happens because of a flaw in the way the forum software is set up. It doen't allow you to share your results with others from a simple link however I've found a workaround that so far will yield the desire result but still isn't perfect.
The search result of 'this link (http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/search.php?searchid=469281)' was made by search for the keyword 'newsgroups' (without the quotes) and was made using the following criteria 'search Titles only' and show results as 'posts' <--- here I made a variation on my suggested recommendation to search entire posts and view the results as posts not just titles.
Anyway when doing this it gives me this link (http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/search.php?searchid=469281) which I cannot share with anyone else because its a generic search id calculated by user and password hash and expires in about 300seconds or 5 minutes.
However I can still show you my search results...how?
On the same page where your results are returned with the search id in the address bar look below the hyperlink for 'User CP' you should see the word ''Search': Key Word(s): 'and the term you searched for' underlined.
In the example above I searched for 'newsgroups' selecting to search through thread titles only and return results as posts so here is what I see under 'User CP'
I see this:
Search: Key Word(s): newsgroups
Now just Select the part that says 'Search right-click on it and choose 'copy shortcut'
you can now paste that into your post by selecting an empty area in the reply box and clicking on CTRL + V
Anyone can now view the results of your search as it will take them to the advanced search page given the criteria you used to make your own search and by simply clicking the 'Search Now' button at the bottom of the page can get the same results as you.
Hope this helps.