Suche / Search function

[swissdiving]

@Matthias,

Die Such Funktion im Forum funktioniert für mich überhaupt nicht. Nicht auf meinem PC oder auf dem Smartphone.
For me the the search function in the forum does not work at all. Not on the PC or the smart phone.

Anyone else got the same problem?
Hat das problem jemand anders auch?

Ist natürlich nicht gut wenn ich den Newbs sage sie sollen zuerst das Forum durchsuchen, und die Such Funktion funktioniert nicht.
Not much use if I tell the Newbs to make use of the search function and it doesn't work.

[scubatinoo]

A forum is the most stupid place to save knowledge... You'll never find what your'e looking for... Thats why you have to answer all the same questions again and again... Much better would be a Wiki - but only as long as it is maintained and organized...

[cheeseandjamsandwich]

Search just worked for me...
Did you chance the "last 30 days" option to "All Dates"? What you were searching for might have been a while ago...
I think it's a mistake to have "last 30 days" as a default, as it means a lot of people don't find what they want as they don't notice it's there (and then post dupe question) or people forget to change it and then have to go back and change it, meaning we visit 4 pages instead of 2, more load on the server...

[cheeseandjamsandwich]

I too agree a wiki would be good.

Or just to revisit the documentation, and pad it out with more information. Giving real world examples for some of the functionality, etc. The Custom Functions could do with this especially. The documentation at the moment i'd say is the bare minimum it has to be...
It would be a lot of work i guess... But it could be a team effort to get everything written up properly and translated.

[heinrichsweikamp]

We once had a wiki, maybe it's time to get it back. But the reason we discontinued it was that "everyone" added new languages which weren't maintained. That resulted in different manuals for different languages, especially for the rapid changes applied to the firmware in the "early days".

As for a search better function: Try Google Google

Cheers,
Matthias

[Goose_66]

Hi All,

search is ok if you know what you are looking for.
That's why in addition to reference manuals and forums (which can be searched even by search engines) there are a lot of howtos and guides which can be read and explain how things work and can be done .....

My 2 Cents

Cheers

Fabio

[swissdiving]

I guess a Wiki would be good, though I like to use the search function extensively when Newbs ask questions that we have answered before. I can then insert the link to the existing forum entry. I've always found what I was looking for (unless it was removed during the domain name move).

Matthias does have a point. The Wiki would have to be maintained. It would be considerably more effort than just the forum. In my humble opinion,as the OSTC and the Frog are becoming more widespread throughout the diving community HW will have to take the next step. There is room for improvement of the online (and paper) documentation which would add to the high quality product that HW is already providing.

[heinrichsweikamp]

Our idea is to split-up the (printed) manual into two pieces: A short manual explaining the fundamentals and the normal manual explaining all menus and options more detailed. About 50% of support emails asking questions which are explained in the manual already.
We hope that at least a shorter manual is read from everyone then

Cheers,
Matthias

[Smiler1968]

How about an FAQ section. A bit like the sticky posts.

[swissdiving]

@Smiler
(tu)

As Matthias says, the goal should be to have a good basic up to date documentation that comes with the OSTC. However I would like to see the documentation on the website consolidated (maybe a Support section) and for the forum either more Stickies (installation of the driver and SW, about CF's and GF's).

A wiki would be an alternative but as Matthias says, more work...
-D
I would be happy to help with the Stickies.

[scubatinoo]

swissdiving Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would be happy to help with the Stickies.

And at the end we have hundreds of stickies... Is i told already: A forum is not the place to store knowledge. Especially when it has no structure at all, like this forum... On the other side: If we would have a superb documentation, then this forum with all of you guys wouldn't be needed anymore. So no more funny ideas, no more fighting discussions... Would you like that?

I'm not a Wiki-specialist - but maybe there's a solution to limit the editing only to a group of editors... Just to avoid that "everyone" is writing something...

[Goose_66]

Hi Scubatino,

In wikies you can define users and groups and you can define who is allowed or not to edit or change articles:
http://wikispot.org/Help_for_Wiki_Administrators

Also I might recommend setting up a WordPress site in which, by default:
-everybody can read and comment on posts
-given groups can create articles but need to be authorized by higher level (I think those are called editors)
-Editors can authorize comments and posts

Posts can be grouped in pages or in cronological order or both.
Search can be as powerful as you want (you can implement free google search almost automatically).

If you wish to see what could be done for free with wordpress have a look to my site which implements a google search and a list of howto's on how to build a virtualized server and VPN server:

http://www.sardone.info/

Wordpress is more apt to deal with a reduced number of editors and allows very powerful tools for page layout and rich media content plus many plugins for any need that might arise, while the wiki strong point is wide editing from the whole audience.

Cheers

Fabio

[swissdiving]

Actually, my question was only if we could have our search function back in the forum.


Please, pretty please.

[heinrichsweikamp]

Working fine here (We changed nothing since the last forum update): search.php?2,search=gradient+factors,au ... _threads=0

Cheers,
Matthias

[swissdiving]

Matthias,

I found the problem. Any words with less than 4 letters cannot be found.
Thats a bugger if you are looking for CF, GF or HUD etc.

Could you fix that?