Differences in search

[CrystalKirk]

This may be a really silly questions but I'm having a bit of a difficult time understanding the differences between the index & search tab. Is the natural language search linked into the search tab? Is full text search tied to the search tab as well?

Someone please clarify. There are far to many search tasks that need to be created and I don't know which is which anymore.

[Captiv8r]

Hi CrystalKirk

I'll take a stab at it.

Think of the Index tab as you would the Index that appears at the back of a printed book. For example, maybe you have a book on Produce. You may know certain things as "Citrus" (Oranges, Lemons, Grapefruits) but the actual word "Citrus" may not exist anywhere. The index could have Citrus inside it, with the sub words of Oranges, Lemons and Grapefruits. YOU get to decide which pages are included in the Index. Thus, your user will only see what you intended.

Search is just that. It's basically trawling through ALL the words in the whole help file. So if your user searches for "Orange", they see ANY and EVERY page listed that contains that specific word. Therefore, your users are apt to see pages you never intended. Maybe your book is related to a company that sells Produce. Maybe their signature delivery vehicle is Orange in color. So your user would find pages not even related to oranges.

Natural Language Search is only available with WebHelp Pro output that is hosted on a RoboEngine. The goal with that was to allow the user to simply ask a question as they might ask anyone. The application then attempts to find matches to topics based on keywords in the string. I'm not sure it ever worked out as well as anyone hoped it would. I always figured it was something akin to a child. Really rocky and didn't understand much at first, but as the system "matured", and users asked questions and you saw reports and tweaked accordingly, it would improve over time.

Hopefully that helps a bit. I also hope others will chime in here to add their own experiences.

Cheers... Rick

[CrystalKirk]

This is helpful Rick, so thank you!

When a topic that had the search word in it is opened (whether in the index or search tab) does the word searched appear at the top of that page and highlighted for easy viewing or does the user than have to search through the document to find it?

Also, when which task should i be performing for the search tab. Should I be focusing on creating full text search and synonyms or natural language search?

[CrystalKirk]

also, i am working off Webhelp Pro.

[Mrs_Kirk]

Can someone help answer my last question?

Thanks so much

[Captiv8r]

Hi again CrystalKirk (or is it, MrsKirk? Hmmmm)

Unfortunately, most of us here aren't the "Pro" output users. So we are at a bit of a disadvantage. Assuming it works like good old WebHelp though, I'm going to hazard a guess that you don't see the highlighting occur. Your user would need to focus the page, then press Ctrl+F and type the keyword again to highlight and find it on the page.

Same with the Index. But with the Index, you can actually have a different twist. If you insert a bookmark at the relative spot where the term you are indexing occurs, you may then link the index term to the bookmark instead of the generic topic. Although highlighting won't occur, you would at least have the user at the spot on the page where the term exists.

Hopefully that helps... Rick

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi Mrs Kirk/CrystalKirk.

I'll try and answer your second query although I'm not a Webhelp Pro user. If it operates the same as in webhelp the searched keyword is not highlighted - unlike compiled HTML Help where it is!

As far as what you should be doing, the trend is to move away from natural language search but this depends on which version of RH you are using. RHX6 Server has done away with it in favour of keyword searching - the mighty Google God wins again. RHX5 Pro however still uses natural language searches. Can you clarify if you are using a Pro/Server licence as "Webhelp Pro" is purely an output type.

BTW these forums are frequented by people like you - not Adobe staff - and we try to answer queries when our other workload allows

[RoboColum_n_]

Sorry Rick. I should have left it to you!

[Mrs_Kirk]

Hey all,

I completely understand that this is something you all do our as an extra and I really appreciate all the answers you provide me with. I guess I get a little overwhelmed when something doesn't work the way I thought it would have.

Yes, we are using Robohelp Office Pro X5 and are finding that the search function only brings up the entire topic and does not bring you to your exact desired search. As well, we really enjoy using framesets and have found that when using the search it pulls up all documents tied to the framset and not the actual frameset which isn't exactly how we saw this pan out as there are not necessarily documents on their own that can be viewed without being tied to the framework.

This does clarify alot for me! Thank you to everyone! :)