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Addcontext

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Everything posted by Addcontext

  1. Here is a new page I just set up that anyone can play with to see how uneven Squarespace's search functionality can be. This is a small hobby site I have where the search is only on the blog. "Quick view" is turned off. When it works, it's good. https://wbb-addcontext.squarespace.com/wbb-search
  2. This is technically similar to the Bing solution I used on one website which continues to work well. Bing indexes the blogs very quickly and the rest of the website every three hours or less, which is adequate for most websites. The results are more useful than what is shown in BenWebHappen (albeit impressive) workaround. Geek note: My (Microsoft) Bing search solution is deployed on the (Microsoft) Azure platform. Meilisearch can also be deployed on Azure. https://www.meilisearch.com/docs/learn/cookbooks/azure For the record, on the websites that I have the Squarespace search function is adequate–when it works, which is all too often not the case. Indeed, not working now seems to be the standard situation on Squarespace's search functionality. It appears to have gone from bad to worse, giving "no results" when it should not. That someone as talented as BenWebHappen had to spend his time for this client on Squarespace to do this is sad and does not speak well of Squarespace's caring or competence. Squarespace's search needs to be dependable. It needs to work every time. When it does work, it's ok. But it is often not working, coming back with "no results" or "document is not found" when it should not. Typically if you try searching again and again it eventually wakes up and provides some useful results. And sometimes it works the first time but that is the exception.
  3. Update on the Microsoft search solution I reported on a year ago: It's working great. The client loves it. They have three Squarespace websites themselves and the community they serve has others. The Microsoft product allows the users to search them all. And the cost has been just a few dollars a month. (I think about $7.) You can see the Microsoft search function in action here: https://www.wtgpoa.org/search-wintergreen Here's a new page to what they are now calling Bing Custom Search: https://www.customsearch.ai/
  4. I have good news and bad news. The good news: I have found that Microsoft offers a very good and inexpensive search. You can put it together and add java script to a Squarespace site using the Code Block. Works great after a couple of days of testing. Unlike Google, it's ad-free. Works great on the test. Try it here: https://wtgpoa.org/test (password: search) Try "park" and "fences" and "bears" Here a link that introduces it. It seem this has been around for a couple of years. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/bing/apis/bing-custom-search-api https://blogs.bing.com/Developers-Blog/2018-04/bing-custom-search-build-a-customized-site-search-experience-in-just-a-few-minutes The bad news: It's Microsoft. 1. It is very inexpensive, I think. I cannot tell you exactly what it cost. Microsoft's Azure pricing on it's service, but especially so on this, is very complicated. (Tip: The vast majority of Squarespace users would probably sign up for what the call "Pay as You Go.") Here's not very useful link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/bing/apis/pricing 2. Microsoft's UI for setting this up is a nightmare. Know a bit of coding isn't going to help you much. The toss around labels such as "Endpoint," "Keys" and "Instances." There is no "done" when you're done. There is a ton of reading they want you to do. 3. You have to set up a Microsoft account and get into Azure. Big deal? Well, good luck finding custom search when you sign in. It's all of Azure. It's one for dang thing to manage. Use the links above. So, am I going to use it? Maybe. It's the client's call and I'll have them test it. They're going to love it and the cost will not bother them. But, I'm a set-up and leave guy. I don't offer much support afterwards. I provide them with names of Squarespace shops who will help. But, they aren't going to know this Microsoft package, so the client will be taking a risk. I'm still thinking about what I'm going to recommend. Thought?
  5. Quick view on search is not displaying results every time, I might even say "usually." What is working on my sites is turning off "quick view" (so that the user has to hit the return bar. Then I'm seeing results every time.
  6. Site Search was iffy until recently. Now it has pretty much stopped working completely on several websites. (Try it here on https://www.ourwintergreen.org/search ) But, here's a clue to what the issue is. On this same website we also have a targeted site search on one of the blogs, and it works pretty well. Try it with the word "fences" here: https://www.ourwintergreen.org/covenants/2020/1/14/understanding-wintergreens-covenants-is-easy -- UPDATED on Nov 24, 2020: Email response after chat: I can confirm that there is an issue with the Search function on our end and the Engineers are currently working on a fix for it.That being said, there are many moving parts and variables that need to be addressed before we can roll out a solution here. We thoroughly test all fixes before they’re released to ensure they don’t affect other Squarespace components or customers, so as a result, resolution time often varies, and we aren’t able to provide a timeline for this.Thank you for your patience while we work to resolve this! UPDATED ON NOV 30, 2020 Under "Fixes" today on Circle Release Notes: " Fixed an issue where Site Search wasn’t returning any results across sites.
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