Tips on using the FWW search engine
bluethumbwoodworks
| Posted in General Discussion on
What are some tips on using the search function on this site? Example – I wanted some ideas on an entry table or hall table. I entered Entry Table in the search and in return had 1,000 pages of entries with the first being “How to build a bed” and most had nothing to do with an entry table. I then put it as “entry table” in quotes and received the exact results. Very frustrating.
Replies
Try using the filters on the left side to narrow it down
What MJ said. Their searching software could use and update for sure.
The geekier version is to enter something like this in your address field (where you would normally put something like "www.amazon.com"):
site:finewoodworking.com "entry table"
Alternate syntax is:
"entry table" site:finewoodworking.com
You can copy and paste either of these and get narrower results. I find using more basic browser search commands can be helpful on sites that have poor search engines. This overrides the site's search function and uses the browser's instead.
Good point, I’ve done that before myself and had forgotten about it.
Sent to me from Ben Strano a couple of years ago.
If I am looking for something that was in the magazine, I ALWAYS use the online index (https://www.finewoodworking.com/magazine-index).
Website search:
The website search is the box on every page of the site. There are filtering options for results and that really does help get to the results you want. If you're looking for a video or a blog, the website search is the only way to do it.
Archive search:
In the main menu, go to "Digital Libraries". That will bring to to the online archive.
There is a "spy glass" at the top of the online archive page where you can search the archive. Clicking advance should give return any mentions of the specific phrase. That said, if I were going to search for the archive, I would likely start at the magazine index as well. I just find it to be the most effective search we have.
Thank you and to Ben, that is absolutely brilliant. Searching this way brings up both the targeted responses and an image of the article which really helps in I.d.’ing the best ones. Really nice!
You must be new here. One thing you'll learn about FWW website is that the content is excellent, the search capabilities are abominable, and trying to get any plans or a decent flow of screens is terrible.
Come for the content, but be prepared for hunt-and-peck, time consuming search to find anything.
No, I’ve been here for a while. I just finally got so frustrated that I decided to post the question. I do agree with what you stated, great content but a very frustrating website. Such a shame to see such great and valuable information clouded over by a constant barrage of pop-up ads, which would be okay if the content could be navigated.