Saturday, February 9, 2013

Searching for Answers!

Did birds that ate this bread have anything
to do with the problem? Of course not,
but I didn't have any related photos.
I’ve received a number of emails regarding problems with the search engine in the sidebar. All of a sudden it’s not returning all the correct results. I have no idea why, so I thought I’d see if any of your more technologically inclined readers may have a clue.

The search box is just the basic Google widget that comes standard with the Blogger template layout I’m using. I can’t switch over to WordPress or other platforms right now, so if that’s your suggestion, thanks, but we’re looking for solutions with the current layout.

By the way, the search box at the top left of the window in the black strip does work, but returns entire blog posts instead of detailed search results. If you have any ideas on a fix or replacement widget or code, please pass them along! Thanks!

14 comments:

Unknown said...

I haven't discovered anything wrong with it. Can you be more specific about what is not working correctly?

Chef John said...

If you type "wings" and hit search, it only returns 4 results and not our wing recipes.

Ed in Great Barrington said...

Try this one:
http://techietipsntricks.blogspot.com/2010/05/blogger-widget-search-this-blog-not.html

Seems to be a common problem.

Grams Pam said...

I've used the search box often. Yes, there is currently something very wrong.

"lamb" only got 3 results (your list along the right side shows 33 lamb recipes)
"chicken wings" gets only 5 results.
"stew" gets only 4 results.
"sandwich" gets only 5 results (your list indicates 17 recipes)

I'm not a "techie" so can't help fix, but this might help those who do have that talent.

Anonymous said...

Well we'd love to help Chef John, but since "Comment moderation has been enabled and All comments must be approved by the blog author" is being strenuously enforced, you're on you own old chap! I'll give you a small hint... LOL!

david said...

Hello Chef,
So, I took a look at the html the main page is composed of, and it's pretty complicated. But I could make out of is that there are two completely different methods to search.
The first uses <a href="http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/search?q=wings&max-results=20&by-date=true"..., and it appears to work as you say. The second is using the google widget 'widget CustomSearch', which is different.

Leading to the question...can you ask whoever did the original webpage to wire the broken search button to the working method?

Thomas said...

Ok I just tried this and it looks to work. I type in the search bar foodwishes and the item recipe I was looking for. IE: foodwishes shrimp recipes. Which turned up ten pages of shrimp recipes. I hope this helps in a good way.

Alex said...

CJ,

I've had this problem forever with your website - here's the solution:

Create a Custom Search Engine at www.google.com/cse/

Direct it to: foodwishes.blogspot.com

Et voilà - paste the code snippet where you want the working search bar to appear.
Problem solved - do I have a free Food Wish now :)? If so, please show us how to do the Vitello Tonnato :)

Cheerio, and keep up the good work!
NP

Chef John said...

Thanks Alex! I'll use that fix for now! Vitello Tonnato? Let me think about that one. :)

James said...

It works using Google Chrome. When I use IE it fails. I typed in PORK all the PORK info came up in Chrome.

I typed in PORK CHOPS and nothing but the pork chops info came up. So it looks like a problem with IE.

James said...

Looks like an IE issue. It works in CHROME. I did some research and it appears this might help.

James said...

I'm not sure if you got my message. So this is the last time. 3 time lucky. It doesn't work in IE. This might fix the problem. Add it to your page.

Ed the house chef said...

Chef,

I hope your techies figure this out soon. One of your posters says it's working in Chrome but your old search isn't working for me in Chrome, IE or Mozilla so I don't think that's it. Your interim solution of having the google search bar is something I hope is very, very temporary. Oh, it works but it only works if one happens to know the exact name of the recipe on the original post. It's not linking back to your site for me every time. Honestly I don't use your search often because once I find a recipe of yours I want to make (almost all of them) I create a 4x6 card summarizing your blog and just use that. Plus, that way I'm not running back and forth from the kitchen to the computer room. Now I'm just rambling so I'll sign out. Thanks again for all you do and making many, many cooks out here in cyber land.

edward said...

I searched today on your site and could not find what I was looking for - so I just did a basic google search on their site with "foodwishes shepard's pie" and it got me to the right place - it's not a fix but a temp band aid for those searching now.