Alternate Head and Tail files

You can now have multiple search result formats for one index: the defaultformat and an alternate format used when the "/alt" option is added to the search URL. Use the alternate format to provide a context-sensitive format, such as for a mobile device, or use it to test out a new design.

The format is controlled by Head and Tail files setable from the Search Configuration page (follow the link Search Results Format). There are now two sets of Head and Tail files, the default set and the alternate set.

URLs in page extracts are now clickable

Sometimes page extracts in the search results include URLs. That is, the sentence containing the query text on a page includes a URL. We have modified the search engine to turn URLs beginning with http or https into hypertext links so that they can be clicked on to browse to the mentioned page. The page is shown in a new window so that the search results aren't lost.

Next generation search engine is here

Blossom's next generation search engine is now in operation. The switch over was made on April 9th. The new search engine includes many improvements, such as more precise searching, better relevance ranking, smarter generation of page extracts, and dynamic expansion of extract lists. Please take a look at the new search results and let us know what you think by sending email to Blossom Support. If for some reason you want to return to the old engine, use "oquery" in your search form in place of "query".

Enhanced history command

The search engine history command allows you to put a most-popular searches list on your website. Based on a customer request, the search terms in the most-popular list are now active links; that is, each term is a link that, when clicked, runs that search against your index. To try out the history feature, follow the instructions in the Search Guide under Activity Reports.

Try out our next generation search engine

We are beginning final testing of the next generation Blossom search engine. The new engine has a better understanding of English so that it can generate improved page extracts and so that searching is more precise. It is also able to separate common navigation text from page contents. Let us know if you would like to try out the new engine on your search index by sending email to Blossom Support.

Targeted incremental updates for fast turnaround

There are now three ways to update a search index:

1. Automatically. Periodically our spider visits your website and looks for new pages. The process is fully automatic. Normally you should rely on this automatic update.
   
2. Manually. From the Search Configuration page at Blossom.com, you can trigger a complete rebuild of your index. This makes sense after a major reworking of a site. To trigger a rebuild, follow the "Update an index" link and click on "Full Rebuild".
3. Incrementally. When you add new pages to your site and you'd like them to appear quickly in your index, you can perform an incremental update where you tell us where the new pages are. To trigger an incremental update, follow the "Update an index" link and click on "Incremental Update". You'll be asked for a file containing the URLs of the new pages.
   

Customizable entities on the way

A significant upgrade of the Blossom search system is in development. One new feature is a facility for defining custom entities. The search engine has several entity types built in, such as phone number, email addresses, and time of day. An entity consists of two parts: a trigger and a pattern. When a trigger is detected in a query, it can be replaced by text that matches the pattern. For example, a search for "office phone number" would match not only the words "office phone number" but also the word "office" near a phone number, like "office: 888-123-4567". The custom entity facility will allow site designers to define their own triggers and patterns. More details will be provided when the facility is available for testing. In the meantime, to help us design the facility, we are interested in hearing about how you might use custom entities. If you think you have a use for them, please send a note support@blossoft.com.