Categorised Site Search

[Mark Clulow]

What are people's thoughts on a site search that can be categorised?

The problem I have is this:

Say I want to find the address for a Bar - let's call it X Bar for arguement's sake - on my local network.

I go up to the site search and enter 'X Bar'

The problem I have is that I get all of the (more recent) comments on events, in forum discussions and photos BEFORE probably one of the earliest references to the bar - the full directory review page.

I feel that the search results would be more useful if it could be categorised into:

1. PHOTOS
2. MEMBERS
3. VIDEOS
4. FORUM
5. FORUM 2?
6. BLOG

Obviously the results would match whatever is turned on or off on the network - if there are no videos, this category should not appear in the search results.

Alternatively, the categorisation might happen at the time of search as we see on other sites:

SEARCH WHAT: images > members > listings etc.

Upon reflection, I might see if this is even something I can build and dump into a custom text box and remove the Ning site search (while this is being prepared for roll-out) ;)

I'll pop back and let you take a look when I get it done...

Looking forward to your thoughts anyway!