Make Search More Accessible

[⭐ Alex ⭐]

When I'm going to a forum I'm going to do one of three things.

1. Read an unread thread.
2. Search for a thread.
3. Create a thread (which 50% of the time requires searching for an existing one first).

There should be a search bar next to the create quick thread area so that I can instantly search for threads in this forum without having to use the complicated global search.

 

[⭐ Alex ⭐]

Xenforo should excel at helping users find the information they are searching for as fast as possible. I strongly feel searching has become slow and lackluster. And the lack of quick searching in a forum has made searching convoluted.

 

[⭐ Alex ⭐]

Could be a search icon to the right of the create thread input which when click expands to the left replacing the create thread field with a search bar.

 

[Kirby]

Hmm, I might be missing smth. but isn't this basically already implemented?

 

[Sim]

Hmm, I might be missing smth. but isn't this basically already implemented?

Yes, but the "similar threads" functionality is specific to XenForo Enhanced Search / ElasticSearch.

Not quite the same as searching - but is intended to achieve largely the same outcome as the suggested use case - encouraging users to post in an existing thread rather than starting a new one.

Similar threads only returns a few results:



... while search will return a lot more:



... I think having a forum-specific search box available might be a useful addition from a UX perspective, although at the risk of increasing clutter.

 

[Mr Lucky]

Similar threads only returns a few results:

The number of results is configurable. However they are not always as accurate as they might be if you could specify titles.

 

[Digital Doctor]

phpBB always had the search this forum at the bottom of the first page.

 

[Digital Doctor]

Search options should be available in many locations.