Problem - and solution - about the Search Engine
LoopyByteloose
Posts: 12,537
If there is one resource that is extremely good for independent study- it is the NUTS and VOLTS articles but there are 100 plus ones.
Currently, I am looking for something by I find that between Google and the Parallax Web site, I cannot locate it. Yet I know for certain that it exists. Eventually, I will get it. All the effort seems a bit absurd.
Why not have the Forum Search provide a search catagory LIMITED to NUTS and VOLTS articles???? It would encourage many new users to use them rather than rehash what has been extremely well presented with code and schematic examples.
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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?
aka G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan
Currently, I am looking for something by I find that between Google and the Parallax Web site, I cannot locate it. Yet I know for certain that it exists. Eventually, I will get it. All the effort seems a bit absurd.
Why not have the Forum Search provide a search catagory LIMITED to NUTS and VOLTS articles???? It would encourage many new users to use them rather than rehash what has been extremely well presented with code and schematic examples.
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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?
aka G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan
Comments
The neat thing about our search engine is it is a Google search engine, so all the power of Google is there. I recently directed a customer the to article, “Silicon Steroids for Stamps” which he was having trouble finding on our website. I just went to search.parallax.com and typed in “nuts volts silicon steroids” and the first result was the article, with a very few related pages. I would include the words “nuts volts” in each search to ensure that it finds matches that include these words. This will help narrow the scope of the search significantly. I hope this helps. Take care.
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Chris Savage
Parallax Engineering
There simply appear to be two or more search engines with the Parallax web sites - one might be the Forum Search and another might be a more global Parallax search on the regular site.
Additionally, the "Forum Quick Jump" looks like a Search entry box.
For someone new to the sites, this all gets rather convoluted. Additionally, the Nuts and Volts page list only a 100 or so of the 150 plus articles that have been written and these are grouped by the volume of reprints that they were bound together with. That's not very functional for topic access.
I can always turn to Google directly and often do. But there still 'seems' to be a multitude of places to turn to search for a Nuts and Volts article and not all are complete.
Simply having a listing and any and all titles in a Excel format would be quite helpful as I often want to return to an article that I read many years ago. And if there are new and better articles on the same subject, I would like to know what I haven't read on the same topic.
As it is, it is hard to know.
I do use Google, but it will NOT provide a complete listing of all Parallax articles to date and likely never will.
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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?
aka G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan
Post Edited (Loopy Byteloose) : 7/19/2009 12:36:28 PM GMT
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Chris Savage
Parallax Engineering
It was just my impression that the Nuts and Volts articles represent a great deal of effort by Parallax and a real core asset. Since the access has gotten a bit fragmented, they appear harder and harder to gain an overview of. One has to actually know the Volume number and article number. Google searches by topic are NOT comprehensive as that is not the way Google works. I have to go through listings and try to recall or guess which one applies by interpreting titles.
Of course,, if you want to make this all a rhetorical debate about trying to please everyone, I'll just drop it.
It was a sincere suggestion. And I am not expressing dislike of the Forum, so much as improvement. Over all I like the Forum. But I've consistently had trouble when going back into old Nuts and Volts articles to gain of summary of all the articles that apply to the same learning concept or application.
And yet, they teach so much and so well.
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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?
aka G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan
If you have a suggestion for a better way for us to make this information available please post any feedback you have and I will see to it that the right people give your suggestions due consideration. Our goal is to make our free resources more accessible to our customers. Sometimes what we see and what the customers sees differ. This is where feedback helps align our goals. Take care.
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Chris Savage
Parallax Engineering
Since there are less than 200 articles, a search machine may not be necessary at all and rather myopic. Simply providing a listing in a spreadsheet column format might be helpful and minimal upkeep. I suspect one could cut and paste one together in a day or so.
What to include?
A complete on-going listing of Nuts and Volts articles that indicates the titles and the reference number (those work very well with a Google search), the microprocessor (BS1, BS2, SX, or Propeller), the nature of the project (Midi, IR remote control, etc.), the nature of the interface (RS232, 1-wire, I2C, SPI), It really isn't that much. Whenever I go to the page with all the republished Nuts and Volts volume icons,
I usually can't figure out which is the right volume and the newest articles seem not to be there. The division between Propeller and BasicStamps doesn't address the articles about SXes. It looks nice, but not exactly informative in a comprehensive way. The new numbering of Propeller articles is somewhat of a distraction as well.
To save time and keep it simple, all you have to list in historical sequence is the article title, date of publication, and reference number. Other columns can just have an X mark if appropriate and the header would indicate what the X is for. In that way, it would never get cluttered with questionable notes or comments. Maintenance could become a 5 minute clerical entry whenever a new article is available.
I really think that a lot of new people are repeatedly asking questions that have been very well answered in depth in Nuts and Volts. If they have a good guide to how to use them on their own, Parallax Support may have a more focused work load as queries might be more precise, less repetitive. Often, I have found myself wrongly referring to an older article when there is new and better information on the same subject. Someone else has to correct me and everyone is unfortunately ends up working harder rather than smarter.
It is all about a quick overview about what is available in print. I am not sure if there are some copyright restrictions on certain Nuts and Volts articles. I have just assumed that Parallax has rights to present all of them on their web site.
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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?
aka G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan
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