New search - please change the default sort parameters!

[loudlashadjuster]

No idea what metrics are used to calculate 'relevance' when searching (a search for Focus RS today pulls up posts from 2010 & 2009 so it seems fairly spurious) but the default sort parameters are broadly useless.

Nine times out of ten I bet most people are looking for something a) relatively new, or b) from around a specific time.

It would make far more sense therefore to make the sort default parameters 'Last update time' and 'Descending', instead of 'Relevance' and 'Ascending' as they are now. As it is I always end up having to change both fields (after the requisite..........................wait while the search results reload after each change) to get to a useful view.

Any chance of making this change?

[loudlashadjuster]

It's been over a year and I still have to do this on pretty much every search, it really makes the (much improved) search more awkward that it should be. I'm sure I'm not alone.

Any comment on why the search defaults to the existing parameters, or reasons why it shouldn't be changed?

[Jack Mansfield]

Hi loudlashadjuster,

I believe the search function is something the dev team want to look at and improve, so it is on the cards. Unfortunately theres no time frame we can give as there is work thats currently taking priority.

Thanks for your feedback, its much appreciated!

[saaby93]

It's not just PH
Loads of websites have 'relevance' (or sometimes 'best match') as the default search option and as far as I can tell is usually useless
I guess it comes through from whoever sells website design. There's no clue as to what theyre using to determine relevance

[loudlashadjuster]

Oh, absolutely.

To the PH tech bods: Surely this isn't a change that needs much dev or test? It's just the default sort options on the form?