[thesite] d.e.o. Review

[Simon Coggins]

> Anyway, can I search for a string, or based on two criteria, where both
> match?  For example, searching for Perl Tutorials, returns all of Perl and
> all of Tutorials, where in fact, what I really wanted was just "Perl
> Tutorials".  I tried it with the quotes and that returned no matches, and
> changed the search box to a "/".  Perl + Tutorials didn't return my intended
> results either.

The search facility is currently very basic. It just finds all cases that
contain any of the words typed. This is because it's run as an SQL query
to match the fields in the database. The SQL syntax is:

<sql>
WHERE ( (Description LIKE '%$word1%') OR 
	(LinkName LIKE '%$word1%') OR
	(Url LIKE '%$word1%') ) 
   OR ( (Description LIKE '%$word2%') OR 
	(LinkName LIKE '%$word2%') OR 
	(Url LIKE '%$word2%') )   
</sql>

I really wouldn't know where to start writing a search engine from
scratch, and I haven't had time to do my homework on a better
solution. There are a couple of possibilities:

- find some existing PHP/MySQL code to improve the logic of the search,
and plug it into the existing directory code.

- use an existing search like HTDig or Atomz. These wouldn't let you query
the database in the same way, so you wouldn't be able to integrate the
search quite as well by this approach (for example - the current search
displays the link, plus which category/ies it is from).

Right now, it's not perfect but it does work. Unless anyone has any
inspiration, I think we might have to leave this one until some of the
other issues are sorted out.

> Suggested text changes
<snip>

The text needed some work. It seems you've just done it for me. Thanks,  
I'll make the changes.

> One last thought, would it be useful for other members to be reviewers?
> Sort of like DMOZ's approach whereby those that know the topic
> review/approve links?  IOW, if you need help/assistance, holler, let us
> know.  I'll gladly take a few sub-categories and review the links submitted.

This is what I originially had in mind, yes. I have created a web-based
admin section for the site where entries can be viewed, edited, approved
and deleted. At the moment there is no seperation by categories, so if we
did this the reviewers would have to have an informal agreement as to
which categories they would maintain. I'll try to improve the admin
section once everything gets up and running - for now I've made work on 
the directory itself top priority.

> Can we start populating the sub-categories now?

Of course! The more (good quality) links the better it will be. For now
I'm happy to do all the moderation (it's a great way to find out about new
sites!).

Regards,

Simon