30th May 2010 - Quick Find V2 added!

[Jools]

For several months now, the quick find box at the top right of every page was broken. I've been wanting to build something from scratch that made it really easy for all levels of aquarists to quickly find a species and go look it up. This is now in place.

For now, it only works with families, genera and species. Try, for example, typing bagridae, hypan or vitt into it. Once it displays the search results, click on the name or image of the species to go look it up.

Jools

[Jools]

Common names now added, so you can try typing things like "blue", "whiptail" or "l254"...

Jools

[MatsP]

Nice. Tried it out with Black Lancer, and it shows nicely.

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Mats

[bronzefry, posts: 2198]

Big whoa! Works for me. Multiple selections arise.
Amanda

[racoll, posts: 4473]

Nice one guys.

Great feature.

[L number Banana, posts: 2140]

So handy for those of us that don't know our L's...

Thanks!

[Jools]

All Synonyms now added.

Jools

[MatsP]

Nice - just tested with Synodontis eupterus.

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Mats

[Jools]

An update to say that, only a couple of years later, I've got the quick find working pretty much how I wanted. Some of this is due to the dev Mats has done for the android app, and also part of it is the new styling etc.

Anyway try putting in...

"cory d"
"barbatu"
"gold"
"l047"

... and so on.

Cheers,

Jools

[racoll, posts: 4473]

Apologies if this isn't the best thread to post bugs ...

I notice that if I type in a search term, and open the link to the fish I want in a new tab, the search box does not go away, even if I delete the contents. Maybe I'm using it wrong, and I should just open a new tab first, then open the link in the same tab? Just thought I'd mention anyway (screenshot below). I'm on Firefox 13.0.1 for Ubuntu.

The other issue is synonyms. Would you entertain the idea of excluding them from the quick search? I find them a pain, as they often really clutter up the results. How many searches have been made on synonyms I wonder? Do you have access to that data? Again, maybe it's just how I use the site; I find the quickfind really handy when a fish is being discussed in the forum, but the poster has neglected to use the clog tags, and this comprises most of my searches. Maybe a person browsing the Web for info on a certain species would find the synonym search useful, but in that scenario aren't they more likely just to come straight into the cat-elog via Google?

[Jools]

Ok, so quick find needs a close button, that makes sense and I can look into it.

As to synonyms, can you give me a few examples of what you are searching for when it finds lots of synonyms?

Cheers

Jools

[racoll, posts: 4473]

Obvious one, but "plecostomus". Eight of the sixteen hits are synonyms. Even something like "angelic" brings up three synonyms out of seven.

Just think it might be confusing for new users perhaps?

[Jools]

A close button has now been added, need to style it a bit, but the function is now there.

Obvious one, but "plecostomus". Eight of the sixteen hits are synonyms. Even something like "angelic" brings up three synonyms out of seven.

Just think it might be confusing for new users perhaps?

But are these things you really searched for? The point of having synonyms in there is when something like a well known binomial changes to some very different. Imagine a future where Corydoras is split into 9 genera for example, won't most users still search for Corydoras panda? Or perhaps Panaque maccus. QuickFind is a blunt tool, it's meant to throw a small haystack at you so you can see the needle...

I am not saying no to this, just need to think about it.

Jools

[Jools]

The close button is now fully operation and in it's final (for now) form. Good suggestion!

Jools

[racoll, posts: 4473]

The close button is now fully operation and in it's final (for now) form

That was quick. Good work :-BD