New Search: Are you seeing this as well?

(A note to those who haven't realized this yet: New Search is now live in the latest official viewer.)

I normally play SL in windowed mode, in a window that's around 1024x768 in size. I found that when I perform a search in New Search that the results pages are formatted such that I have to scroll to the bottom of every page of results in order to see whether there are more search results, and to navigate between results pages. I also installed the new viewer on another computer and played SL at full-screen 1024x768 and found the same to be true. I had to scroll to the bottom of every page of results to navigate the findings.

Anyone familiar with web browsers will probably eventually realize that you have to scroll down to navigate every page, but for some reason it seems damned inconvenient, even though this is how Yahoo and Google searches work.

QUESTIONS:
- I haven't had time to mess with this yet, but does the search window remember its last position and size, so that if you manage to resize the window so results fit on one page it will remember this and open subsequent searches at the right size?
- Does anyone else find this annoying? I don't know why it bugs me so much within the client while I'm used to having to scroll down in Google/Yahoo... but I find myself REALLY wishing there were nav buttons at the top of the page instead of just the bottom. I honestly can't decide whether I'm just being picky or this is a true usability problem. Somehow it seems like a step backward in user friendliness to me.

EDIT: I think I know why this is bothering me. With Google searches I rarely have to scroll down even the first page- the thing I'm looking for is usually in the top 5 returned results. This is not the case for most of my in-world places and classifieds searches, where I really am looking through several pages due to all of the gamed statistics. If I had to sift through multiple pages on Google every time I searched, I'd probably be requesting some formatting changes there as well.

This is the default search results page on a computer playing at 1024x768, full-screen:



The navigation buttons are down here, and you have to scroll to the bottom of every subsequent page to see them:

Hi Wildfire,

I haven't seen it yet, because I'm on an old viewer still, but a thought came to my head:

Unless everyone displays search in such a way on their screen that all results are visible, the navigate buttons at the top would mean the listings at the bottom would never be seen.

I'd prefer it if all results were visible without having to scroll down, but I guess if that's not going to happen I'll live with scrolling down.

It is a usability problem. The new search is really just a web page, so putting buttons on the UI isn't so much an option, however placing the navagation at he bottom of the page was a bit silly.

I'd have put the nav-bar both at the top and the bottom, personally.

EDIT: You know, the client could send a search return limit based on window size, making a better-fitting set of results and showing the nav-bar pretty much no matter what. Why don't they build in these little conveniances?

No, it doesn't save the last window size.

But I think you have found proof that all the LL coders all have mega-huge monitors! Which is probably why thay can't understand why people with normal-sizd screens dislike the huge Chat UI that they forced down our throats. *sigh*

Yes, you're right- so my personal preference would be to limit the number of results per page so that you don't have to scroll at all. You would see a smaller number of results per page, and you always see the nav buttons. Would be nice to have a "results per page" setting in preferences maybe? Heck, there might already be one. Many forums have this kind of capability, but I don't know how many search engines do (not that I've looked).

P.S. If enough people are bugged by this I'll submit a Jira about it- if someone else doesn't beat me to it.

LOL I think you're right about that one. I remember last week someone was asking me to look at something while I was in the middle of some IMs and I was like, "sorry, not now- the communicator is occupying the entire upper half of my screen-" and it was!

That would be the solution IMHO, given that not everyone will have the same size screen.
And Google already allows you to choose results per page in preferences

Isn't it obvious that you should scroll down and have next pages available at the bottom? I don't see the problem, to be honest.

Maybe they could throw a bit of CSS at the problem and have fixed-position navigation that works more like the old search's buttons. The Google software would have to give them enough formatting flexibility to add something like that, so it's not a sure thing that LL has that option.

The less results people get per page, the less likely they will ever find you...who is going to click through 40 or 50 pages before making a choice?

I won't pay the price to get my rental property ad near the top. Just not worth the high expense for me personally, given how high my tier is.

You don't appear to have read the entire original post.

However, the fact is that _I_ at least routinely have to sift through several pages during searches to find what I'm looking for. I'd prefer that the results would fit on my screen without me having to scroll to the bottom on every single page to find the button. I think there are several ways this could be achieved, some of which would be flexible enough for any user to be happy with it.

Wildefire, I'm confused. How do the non-paid ads get sorted? What determines whether you are at the top of the list or not?

Stop complaining - the old search was PITA, the new one is gorgeous - both visually and as functionality, this is the best change I've seen on SL, really surprised it's not being appreciated.

It could be better. Stop complaining about my complaining.

There are a number of factors, and the exact formula will likely never be published because that would make it too easy to game. One interesting thing that I still fully don't understand yet is the Popular Places linkbacks. If you search for a given known location, you'll likely get several hits to that site's position on the new popular places listings. I think this is how they factor Traffic into search relevance, but I haven't yet figured out how it's judged. The fact that there are multiple linkbacks seems to be part of the equation.

Now I remember the reason I stopped posting here...

There is no such thing as a non-paid ad. There are parcels, and events, and stuff in the wiki, and groups, and people.

And yes, I noticed that too - the window size isn't saved and you have to keep guessing where the bottom is.

The problem is the classifieds aren't showing up in the right order/manner.

Your post was rude. She was not complaining. She was asking a question. Maybe you could have just posted this instead:

By non-paid, I meant $50.

"Your post was rude"

Really? And it comes from a man that sent me an extremely rude PM for no reason?
Whatever, enjoy YOUR forum.

someone got up on the wrong side of the bed....



Yes, the new search has a multitude of problems. The links to go to more pages should be on a bar that doesn't scroll, so they are always available.

Yeah, I agree that it's a bit oversized (S0meone go to LL and take away thier big monitors and give them all 15" screens LOL).

The (admittedly minor) problem I ahve with the new search is the dumb (to me) search field in the upper right of the client viewer.
1) If I want to search, I'm going to open the search window because the search results are going to do that anyway.
2) (and main gripe) This search field placement removed the PACKET LOSS and BANDWITDH monitor bars.

I know the Lag Meter does this job too, but it was nice to have a representation of Packet Loss and Bandwidth "at a glance".

And honestly, I'm never going to use the new search funtion. I really don't see an improvement there to finding anything. If it works for others, great. I'll stick with the old PLACES tab. Works great for me ^.^

~Jessy

I have alot of home ads so alot of my listings are at the top of the list. I pay for these ads as well as people who pay for classifieds do, although my home ad payments are taken out in one huge lump sum each week. I also have a multitude of regular classified ads as well and as far as I can see with the new search if you had a new product you wanted to show on your ad, you can't see it. These just give you a listing, unless Im wrong, if i wanted to promote a new living room set by taking a pic of it and placing it in my ad.. i can no longer see the picture. This is always how ive searched to buy clothing. If i can see what a makers designs look like on their "pic" then I can get an idea that their items are well made. I do the same thing in the search when im looking for land. I can see with their picture right away if its a hillside, water, snow etc.