'Intelligent' quick search?

[clebin]

But using Elasticsearch does not solve the initial problem. For example, on ZXInfo searching for Jetpac - gives by coincidence the "real" Jetpac as first result - https://zxinfo.dk/search/jetpac

Searching for Manic Miner, the "real" Manic Miner ends up in 18th place. - https://zxinfo.dk/search/manic%20miner -

there's no way of knowing what's the real deal, unless someone manually put it into the engine. And last, sorting just makes this worse

(FYI - ZXInfo sorts search results, based in scoring by Elasticsearch - which more or less is an indication of how good the fit was)

/T

You can tailor your queries to deal with such situations. In most cases, adding a little weight to the title will result in decent search results. That falls apart with "Manic Miner" but you could fix that with an additional boost for an exact match in the title field. That would ensure the original appears above "Manic Miner Blah Blah Edition".

Another option would be to apply a small negative score to that phrase (or similar) appearing in the 'Mod' field, so that all mods & clones are pushed down the search results. That would help in situations like, for example, the user searches for "Jet Set Willy" and gets Jet Set Willy first as expected, but Jet Set Willy II appears beneath a load of clones & mods because the 'match_phrase' boost hasn't kicked in. Or because someone wrote "Jetset Willy".

Elasticsearch isn't a black box, it just requires a little massaging and knowledge of the data to return the results you want.

[PeterJ]

Great that we come above that other Spectrum site! My monthly payment to Sundar Pichai helps.

[clebin]

Great that we come above that other Spectrum site!

Involuntarily, my brain inserted an extra 'h' into that sentence!

[Morkin]

...Don't get too excited...

[PeterJ]

Thanks for raining on my parade [mention]Morkin[/mention]

If you put ZX Spectrum in the search like you did with Jetpac we will probably be above them.

If doing serious checks on search positions I believe it is best to sign out of Google (if using Chrome), and clear your cache and search history

[Morkin]

All these searches were run incognito, dread to think what sites would appear if I didn't...

[PeterJ]

All these searches were run incognito, dread to think what sites would appear if I didn't...

Well, as we are publishing our search history, maybe you should too. LOL.

[kolbeck]

You can tailor your queries to deal with such situations. In most cases, adding a little weight to the title will result in decent search results. That falls apart with "Manic Miner" but you could fix that with an additional boost for an exact match in the title field. That would ensure the original appears above "Manic Miner Blah Blah Edition".

My point was that it’s not solely dependent on the technology in use, as you in all cases need to make proper use of chosen technology, to get to where you want. In this case most people have an opinion about how the result of a a search should look like

[Einar Saukas]

If we limit results to titles, it would be easier to sort the results.

What if we limit quick search results to titles, except we also provide links to see matching companies and magazines at the bottom?

Incidentally that's EXACTLY how it's working right now!

[Einar Saukas]

As an experiment, I updated the alternate site to have both "google search" and "quick search". Give it a try:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/x-index.php

IMHO they serve different purposes. Perhaps we could have both in the main site?

[AndyC]

You can guarantee SC will be the top result by limiting searches by site, e.g.

zythum site:spectrumcomputing.co.uk

[PeterJ]

Thanks [mention]Einar Saukas[/mention],

Have sent you an email.

[Einar Saukas]

Another option would be to apply a small negative score to that phrase (or similar) appearing in the 'Mod' field, so that all mods & clones are pushed down the search results. That would help in situations like, for example, the user searches for "Jet Set Willy" and gets Jet Set Willy first as expected, but Jet Set Willy II appears beneath a load of clones & mods because the 'match_phrase' boost hasn't kicked in. Or because someone wrote "Jetset Willy".

It always worked like this. The prefix "[MOD]" is used as part of title ordering.

Try quick searching for "Jetset Willy" to see what happens.

[clebin]

It always worked like this. The prefix "[MOD]" is used as part of title ordering.

Try quick searching for "Jetset Willy" to see what happens.

Hi Einar. My post wasn't referencing the current search or any problems with it. It was in response to kolbeck and how, if you were to use Elasticsearch for a more 'fuzzy' search, how you might fix the problem he noted in ZX Info's implementation.

[kolbeck]

I've had a quick look at the search in ZXInfo, and since I haven't updated the query since using v2 of Elasicsearch, I've done a few tweaks, based on this discussion.

Basically I've added some fuzziness and tweaked the boosting parameters. The changes are great (IMHO).

Before, searching for manic miner gave as stated before, the real manic miner as #18 hit.


After the tweak, it now turns up as #1 as expected


Serching for jetset willy - gives.. hurray:


And searching for the real jet set willy gives .. the same:


The added fuzinness gives space for typos, for example searching for manik maner gave nothing before, but now it tries hard and.. tada... something more useful


If there are other examples, please let me know

/Thomas

[clebin]

I've had a quick look at the search in ZXInfo, and since I haven't updated the query since using v2 of Elasicsearch, I've done a few tweaks, based on this discussion.

That's awesome. You're right, the results are much better. I didn't realise when I was talking to you that you were the author of ZXInfo! (EDIT: silly me, it's right there in your sig..) I'm glad if this conversation has proved useful in any way.

[Einar Saukas]

It always worked like this. The prefix "[MOD]" is used as part of title ordering.

Try quick searching for "Jetset Willy" to see what happens.

Hi Einar. My post wasn't referencing the current search or any problems with it. It was in response to kolbeck and how, if you were to use Elasticsearch for a more 'fuzzy' search, how you might fix the problem he noted in ZX Info's implementation.

Sorry, I misunderstood you!