https://www.reddit.com/r/beta/comments/36k0u3/beta_update_519_new_search_page/
created by tdohz on 19/05/2015 at 23:19 UTC*
194 upvotes, 51 top-level comments (showing 25)
First, we're graduating our first beta feature out to production! We're ready to turn on our improved subreddit search algorithm[1] to production - thanks to those of you who tested it out to let us know it was working as expected. Read Next & the Q&A sort updates[2] will remain in beta.
1: https://beta.reddit.com/r/beta/comments/35762a/welcome_to_rbeta/
2: https://beta.reddit.com/r/beta/comments/363ift/beta_update_515_qa_sort_update_read_next_updates/
Second, we have a big new feature for you all to test: an updated search results page[3]. It looks like this[4]. It's a pretty big change, but **don't panic** - while it might take some getting used to, we genuinely think this is a better experience. Here are the highlights of what's new:
3: https://beta.reddit.com/search?q=cats
4: http://i.imgur.com/heGdzPu.png
We know that most folks don't know about the dedicated subreddit search page[5], and so use the sidebar search box to find subreddits as well as posts. However, that search box doesn't actually search subreddits directly, only posts, so you often got irrelevant results - plus, many users got confused by the "narrow to this subreddit" box, thinking those were actual links to subreddits.
5: https://www.reddit.com/subreddits/
Now, we directly search subreddits as well as posts, and any relevant subreddits are displayed right at the top of the page with relevant information like # of subscribers, the subreddit description, and one-click subscription if you like what you see. Plus, the new improved subreddit search algorithm is powering this section of the search page, so the results are even more relevant.
7: http://i.imgur.com/AVc9q5E.png
Previously, post search results showed up just like any other subreddit listing, even though the action of searching on reddit is decidedly different from browsing the front page. We've updated the post results section to be more context-appropriate for search, by cleaning up the results to show only the information most relevant to you when you're looking for a piece of content: the thumbnail, title, and post metadata (score, comment count, date, author).
We've also changed the titles to always link through to the post itself rather than links. To accommodate times when you do want to click or copy the actual link, we've placed the URL below the result. The hope is that this provides a more consistent experience in search - clicking on the title always takes you to the reddit post with comments; clicking on the URL below takes you to the external link, if there is one.
We've also taken this chance to freshen up the search page and make it a little easier on the eyes, and faster to find what you're looking for, by adjusting spacing, font size & color, and general placement. **We know this will break some CSS when searching from a subreddit** - this is part of the reason for beta testing. We'll give ample notice to mods before we ship anything to production so they can adjust their CSS as needed. Because of this known issue, if you see a visual/layout bug, try searching with subreddit CSS off first (or from reddit.com/search[8]), since we anticipate that the subreddit CSS issues will be resolved by individual subreddits over time.
8: http://beta.reddit.com/search
We know that these are all pretty big changes, and that not everyone will love them - all feedback is welcome; the only thing we ask is that you give it a chance (like, try actually searching with it for a day or two) to see if the changes are something you can get used to, or if there are fundamental things that break with this new format.
~~
9: https://beta.reddit.com/r/beta/comments/36jszq/bugsearch_filtering_options_are_bugged/
Comment by PM_ME_YOUR_IZANAGI at 20/05/2015 at 00:51 UTC
47 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Please add the ability to use quotes to narrow results. For example, typing "karambit fade" should give me all posts containing those words in that order, not all "karambit" and "fade" posts.
Comment by [deleted] at 20/05/2015 at 01:56 UTC*
28 upvotes, 2 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by [deleted] at 20/05/2015 at 01:08 UTC
20 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Was it the intention to force users to click on self-posts to see the whole text body? I hope not, because it would be a radical step back. I search for self-posts frequently, and I do not look forward to having to open every link to find one that's good.
Comment by Coolboypai at 20/05/2015 at 02:19 UTC
16 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I don't mind the new look to it as it feels more modern and and I'm sure most of us will get used to it eventually, but my biggest complaint is the lack of clear information. Although it is all still there, it's a lot harder to find information about the thread's score and number of comments at a glance with everything being that same light-grey colour.
Comment by [deleted] at 19/05/2015 at 23:25 UTC
39 upvotes, 3 direct replies
Please more search filters :(.
Comment by arcanition at 19/05/2015 at 23:49 UTC
27 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I don't like it, it doesn't have the same options as before (or at least they aren't as obvious).
Comment by craders at 20/05/2015 at 03:21 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Any plan to bring the voting arrows to the search page? When I am searching a single subreddit, I like to be able to vote on the items I see in the list.
Comment by L_Cranston_Shadow at 20/05/2015 at 13:07 UTC
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This new version doesn't allow for changing the results order from the results page which makes it a huge pain to go back and re-enter the search with date instead of relevance, or vis a versa.
Also, I'd suggest for link posts having the main result link point to the target url and the bottom point to the comments page, rather than having the main link point to the comments page, and then a link at the bottom that points to the target url. Besides being in line with the old behavior, that is arguably (and I'm sure some people will disagree) more intuitive.
Comment by jaxspider at 20/05/2015 at 00:37 UTC
16 upvotes, 1 direct replies
In the search page, what happened to the filters i.e. relevant, oldest / newest etc etc?
The search function worked flawlessly before.
Comment by [deleted] at 20/05/2015 at 04:15 UTC*
5 upvotes, 1 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by bensroommate at 20/05/2015 at 06:37 UTC
4 upvotes, 2 direct replies
I do not like that I cannot sort by new.. That was perhaps the most useful sort in the search. I guess I'll have to turn off the beta until this is changed.
Comment by chrisychris- at 20/05/2015 at 00:14 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Although I don't like how different it looks from normal posts (blue titles, gray text) or how it used to look, I like the update. Here's to a better search!
Comment by seizethedayboys at 20/05/2015 at 00:46 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I like the look of it but I also liked being able to assign flair to posts when limiting my search to the sub I mod. I don't see an option for this now.
Comment by meeper88 at 20/05/2015 at 02:33 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
One thing I would really like to have is the ability to search my own post history. I recognise that allowing users to search anyone's post history could cause problems, but there are times when I really just want to be able to find, point to or quote something I said, and I'd love to be able to run a search on my own post history instead of relying on RES' never-ending reddit and repeated ctl-F's.
Comment by novov at 20/05/2015 at 03:02 UTC
7 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I don't see why the post layout has to be different from, say the front page - really bad UI design
Comment by reseph at 20/05/2015 at 00:49 UTC
5 upvotes, 1 direct replies
This is really disappointing. The text isn't compressed and I have to scroll more now. Plus we're missing the dropdowns like date range
Comment by jeffnunn at 20/05/2015 at 02:02 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Thank you for this. I've always wanted to search for subreddits, but I've never known how.
Comment by jw12321 at 20/05/2015 at 02:24 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Can you decrease the padding between each subreddit suggestion and each search result? Especially for the subreddit listings, the padding there looks larger than on the posts.
Comment by [deleted] at 20/05/2015 at 11:05 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I noticed this when I went to go search for a new subreddit.
Serious feedback: I liked having suggest subreddits at the top. I wasn't sure what the hell was going on or where they want. I prefer the old layout better honestly.
Comment by 1chriis1 at 20/05/2015 at 12:08 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
post Sorting is broken. I only can sort by time, not relevance, etc.
Comment by thegrul at 20/05/2015 at 14:35 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I like it. It helped me find a post.
Comment by [deleted] at 28/05/2015 at 02:05 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
It fucked up RES. No more searching and clicking "View images" And I know its not up for you to fix. Just a minor irk.
Comment by 1chriis1 at 30/05/2015 at 09:48 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I can only see ONE page of results!
Comment by [deleted] at 19/05/2015 at 23:51 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
If you have markdown in the description field, it will render as plaintext in the search results for subreddits, like so.
You could use beautifulsoup to extract the text from it in the mean time (and possibly memcache it?) and grab the first line of text. This works pretty reliably in my testing before. But I assume you made the decision to do this to put pressure on changing it, rather than supporting legacy.
Comment by The13thzodiac at 20/05/2015 at 00:37 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I like this. It makes it a LOT easier to search for Subreddits now.
