I'm using Flare 11.1 and am new to HTML5 output.
Thus far I've been using Flare for print and .pdf output.
I've been dissecting the top nav template, bumping around it trying to learn cause and effect working toward a proof-of-concept site to show off to Management. I'm slowly bending this template to my will. Emphasis there on "slowly" but I'm learning a lot.
THE PROBLEM
I love the look of the Search Results page but I find one glaring limitation of this template:
The design assumes the visitor already knows what they're searching for. There needs to be some way to skim all of the articles for subjects of interest without having to know special keywords to enter into the search bar.
CONCEPT FOR A SOLUTION?
I'd like to add a "BROWSE ALL TOPICS" button (or similar mechanism) to the home page that takes the user to the Search Results page but the results aren't filtered at all. Instead, it presents a list of ALL the topics that the user can scroll through and cherry pick something of interest. The point is, this way a new user doesn't have to be familiar with the jargon associated with my product in order to search up some specific topic.
SEMI-UGLY WORK-AROUND
One of the very patient guys in support showed me a work-around that involved a topic with a menu proxy linked to a TOC. The TOC had entries for all of the articles. This was a nice idea but I'd really love to see that consistent user experience that shows this listing just like search results.
Is there something I can leverage associated with Search Filters? So far, I'm having trouble even turning on the filter thingy, let alone exploring any additional depths this function may have.
Beyond that, he said what I want requires a feature request but I'm hoping for someone else out there who has a slightly more elegant looking, shorter term solution for this. I envision a couple sweet lines of code added to that home page topic that feed some really mind blowing string to the Search Proxy. Yeah, Baby! Something super-ninja-cool like that!
I can't be the first one to want this sort of view of available content! Other user experience suggestions that cater to breaking in new visitors to my knowledge portal are also welcome if the "BROWSE ALL TOPICS" button concept described above turns out to be just plain impossible.
Suggestions anyone?
Thanks in advance,
David
Need Top-Nav search result that shows all topics
Re: Need Top-Nav search result that shows all topics
I'm not sure I get why you want this displayed as search results.
The menu proxy solution makes more sense to me, because a structured list would make it easier for the reader to locate what they're looking for.
I use a menu proxy (linked to a TOC) as a sitemap.
It wouldn't be hard to style the menu proxy to look similar to the search results (although without the topic description).
To use search filters, you need to add concepts to topics, then create filters that are linked to those concepts.
The menu proxy solution makes more sense to me, because a structured list would make it easier for the reader to locate what they're looking for.
I use a menu proxy (linked to a TOC) as a sitemap.
It wouldn't be hard to style the menu proxy to look similar to the search results (although without the topic description).
To use search filters, you need to add concepts to topics, then create filters that are linked to those concepts.