Tool catagories on main page?

[Acrobat]

First, Thanks for your hard work on getting all the neat stuff on here. Excellent.

  I'd like to know are we able to directly search for info under say Domino DF500 or Trion Jigsaw for example. (So if this is here somewhere, then ignore my request.)
I think it would be easier to have the Festool Tools listed at the main page, and then under each subcatagoreis related to each tool and its links, queries etc., rather than reading down the latest list of topics to find one related to a specific tool.

It's a goldmine of info here, just takes a wee while to go through the articles to find what you want.

Thanks for your hard work on getting all the neat stuff on here. Excellent and much appreciated.
From the "other" down under, NZ.
Acrobat

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Acrobat,
Thanks for posting your question!

When this forum first opened, I created separate categories for each kind of tool.  In a short time, people felt that was too cumbersome.  Ironically, even though having specific categories sounds better, it actually creates a confusing board structure -- it's difficult for people to post, because they have to scross down to the specific tool board.  As a group, members opted for a "general" tool category.

This works out great, because the forum has an excellent search function!  Click on the

button, located in the main menu near the top of the page.  From there, type what you're looking for, and you'll get directed to specific posts about that tool.

For example, enter "Domino" in the search function, and you'll get about 1,000 results!!  "Trion" gets about 150 results.  "Jigsaw" gets another 300 results.  That will keep you busy reading for a while!

Thank you for your kind words about the content of this forum.  We've all contributed good material to get us to this point.  It's a lot of work getting a forum to this point, but we can all be proud: this forum is the greatest source of useful and unbiased information about Festool tools anywhere on the Internet.  We've also expanded out to include other tool lines besides Festool.

Let me know if this answers your questions.

Stay in touch,
Matthew

 

[Forrest Anderson]

This works out great, because the forum has an excellent search function!  Click on the

button, located in the main menu near the top of the page.  From there, type what you're looking for, and you'll get directed to specific posts about that tool.

For example, enter "Domino" in the search function, and you'll get about 1,000 results!!  "Trion" gets about 150 results.  "Jigsaw" gets another 300 results.  That will keep you busy reading for a while!

I have always had a problem with the search function, and wonder if I'm missing something...

The results only seem take you to one sample search result per thread. So if the word or phrase I am looking for is mentioned in 20 different messages in a thread, the search results will only show one of these messages. If you are not aware of this limitation when scanning through the search results, you will assume that the word/phrase is only mentioned in that particular message, and will miss the other 19 messages which also contain that word/phrase.

Even if this "feature" of the search engine is known about, trying to find the other 19 occurrences can be time-consuming in long threads.

For example, say I remember a post which mentioned the Angle Unit on the new MFT/3, and how its fence could be adjusted further back than the fence on the MFT1080.

So I go to the search engine, type "Angle Unit" into the "Search for" box, leave most of the other options at the default, and click on "Search"

Understandably, I get a lot of hits. I work my way down the results and find one likely-looking thread entitled "MFT3: Festool Seeking Member Questions"

-------------------
Started by Matthew Schenker, Message by Terp
03-03-2008, 16:01:53 
Relevance: 27.5%

Quote from: lawhoo on 03-03-2008, 14:34:49

If the new angle unit registers off the V-groove, does that mean that one couldn't retrofit it to an MFT1080?

Bingo.  But be creative & you can retrofit any thing to the MFT 1080.  I've seen alot of devices....
-------------------

As this is the only message in the thread that is listed in the search results, and it doesn't mention how the Angle Unit fence can be adjusted, most people would skip to one of the other search results. But we know better - the result listing only gives one appearance of the search phrase per thread, and the Angle Unit could be mentioned in several other messages in that thread.

So I click on the title of the thread Re: MFT3: Festool Seeking Member Questions which takes me to a thread that turns out to span from 11 Jan 2008 to 28 Jul 2008 and is made up of individual 250 messages!! On my computer the thread is split over 9 pages, and reading through each message looking for the phrase "Angle Unit" would be very tedious. Instead, I decide to use the Find facility in my browser to search for "Angle Unit". I can either repeat this for each page of messages, or if I spot the "All" link, I can get all 250 messages on one very long page, and can search that instead.

At long last I find the message I remember...

--------------------
Re: MFT3: Festool Seeking Member Questions
? Reply #110 on: 01-03-2008, 06:47:20

As I see it, that would be due to the fore/aft adjustability of the new angle unit -- the new fence can be located back further than the 'stock' position of the current fence/angle-unit.
--------------------

In summary, it is not obvious to most people that the search engine only displays one message per thread in the list of results, even though other messages in that thread also contain the target word/phrase.

Can this limitation be mentioned on the search page, or can the search engine be altered so that all results are shown?

Forrest

 

[fidelfs]

If you want to expand the search capability for any website you could use google.
If you go to google website you could click on advance search  [attachthumb=1] and then a new page will show and you can enter
the information  [attachthumb=2].

Or you could go to google and enter the following into the search field:
Angle Unit site:http://festoolownersgroup.com
Change the word Angle Unit for whatever you want to search

 

[nickao]

Actually, I am surprised google search is not included in the forum. When I am looking for something I always google it as I find the search lacking in the forum.

I can find things I want to see on the FOG faster by just using google.

So why not include a google search function next to the regular search function, giving three search options 1)search for the FOG using the forums search, 2) A google search for the FOG site only and 3) a general Google web search.

Many forums and web sites implement the search like that.

Nickao

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Afternoon,
Sorry for the delay on this, but I've been checking the technical sites for answers on how to improve the search functionality of the forum.

I have always had a problem with the search function, and wonder if I'm missing something...

The results only seem take you to one sample search result per thread. So if the word or phrase I am looking for is mentioned in 20 different messages in a thread, the search results will only show one of these messages. If you are not aware of this limitation when scanning through the search results, you will assume that the word/phrase is only mentioned in that particular message, and will miss the other 19 messages which also contain that word/phrase.

Thanks for eloquently pointing out that weakness of the search function.  I'm looking into this, and will try to find way to address this.

Actually, I am surprised google search is not included in the forum. When I am looking for something I always google it as I find the search lacking in the forum.

I can find things I want to see on the FOG faster by just using google.

So why not include a google search function next to the regular search function, giving three search options 1)search for the FOG using the forums search, 2) A google search for the FOG site only and 3) a general Google web search.

Many forums and web sites implement the search like that.

Good points!  I'm looking into ways to install Google search in this forum.  It will take a bit of coding to make it happen, but I agree it is worth doing.

More on this in a little bit!

Thanks again,
Matthew

 

[Forrest Anderson]

Thanks for eloquently pointing out that weakness of the search function.  I'm looking into this, and will try to find way to address this.

Many thanks!

Forrest