FIRSTSearch

[jashephe]

Team 449 is working on a new FIRST-related search engine.
It was written and designed entirely by team members. Take a look, try it out, and tell us what you think.

[jashephe]

We've also been working on a new style for FIRSTSearch.
You can take a look here:
http://mbhs.edu/~jashephe/FIRSTSearch/firstsearch.php
However: This demo doesn't actually search, it is just a test of the styling.

[Molten]

I must admit, I was surprised it found 1766's homepage. We haven't really been much for publicity in the past, so most haven't even heard of us.

Word of advice: Censor the popular search terms section if possible. Otherwise you might have some issues.

[Koko Ed]

I typed in my team's name and number and lot's of other teams came up but not our page.

[Foster]

Same here, no result for 1640. Enter "1640 robot" into google, we are entries 3,4,5. Sab-bot-age pulls nothing about us here, Google gives a link to TBA. "Sab-bot-age robot" in Google returns a full page of links to us, or stories about us.

[jashephe]

Thanks for the suggestions. We're working on a language filter for the "Popular Search Terms" section.

About why your pages may not be coming up: our website indexer is running on a PowerMac G4, and it's Internet connection isn't that great. We should be getting ~2 more computers in the coming weeks, so those should make indexing faster.

[ebarker]

Dear Blair,

Not to be a wet blanket here but there are a couple of things here that would make FIRST very cranky.

1) while it is very nice looking an ingenious the modification of the FIRST logo violates the FIRST logo/brand style guide.

2) The logo / title implies it came from FIRST. The official way around it goes like

FIRST Search
by the Blair Robot Project

that is why we have to do

FIRSTsteps
by Kell Robotics

Fixing your name looks easy. Fixing the logo is harder because it is so cool. You could send a request to marketing@usfirst.org and ask for a ruling.

[jashephe]

Originally Posted by ebarker

Dear Blair,

Not to be a wet blanket here but there are a couple of things here that would make FIRST very cranky.

1) while it is very nice looking an ingenious the modification of the FIRST logo violates the FIRST logo/brand style guide.

2) The logo / title implies it came from FIRST. The official way around it goes like

FIRST Search
by the Blair Robot Project

that is why we have to do

FIRSTsteps
by Kell Robotics

Fixing your name looks easy. Fixing the logo is harder because it is so cool. You could send a request to marketing@usfirst.org and ask for a ruling.

I have sent an email to FIRST asking them about the logo.

Also, I have talked to our lead developer, and he says that we hope to eventually be able to re-index once per week.

Lastly, Foster wrote:

Same here, no result for 1640. Enter "1640 robot" into google, we are entries 3,4,5. Sab-bot-age pulls nothing about us here, Google gives a link to TBA. "Sab-bot-age robot" in Google returns a full page of links to us, or stories about us.

Your webpage, http://team1640.com/, results in infinite re-directs. Our indexer skips pages that it can't load. If you talk to your webmasters about getting that fixed, our indexer will include your team next time it is run.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Dantvman27]

yeah team 241 and/or astros turns up nothing related

[jashephe]

Anybody who's team isn't showing up, register your team's website at
http://firstsearch.robot.mbhs.edu/register.cgi
After it gets approved, it will be included in the indexer.

[Rich Kressly]

Great idea 449. You might want to take a look at this:
http://team357.org/?page=google

[jashephe]

Originally Posted by Rich Kressly

Great idea 449. You might want to take a look at this:
http://team357.org/?page=google

Yeah, that’s useful as well.

We wanted to write our own custom indexer and search engine, so it could be more tailored to presenting FIRST-related information.

[bytbox]

Hi all! I've been reading through this, and am trying to get it all addressed.

FIRSTSearch will index stuff approximately once a week. If we have server problems, once every two weeks, if the server doesn't heat the room enough (winter's coming), once every five days.

First, let me warn that there is a bug: just searching for "team:####" will never get any results. I intend to fix this, but in the meantime, if you want to check to make sure your site got indexed, search "team:#### ####", where #### is your team number. If your site doesn't show up, go to the registration page linked above, and register - I'll see you there, and add you to the indexing schedule.

Sometimes, your site won't be indexed because your site itself has an 'error'. Here's what an error is: there is no link from your home page, as listed by TBA, to other places on your site. So, if the bot can't get to your home page, or when it does, it can't get anywhere else, you won't get indexed. Google may be able to index you because it can find links to other places on your site on the internet, but FIRSTSearch's bot can't.

Rich Kressly: yeah, but Team 449 doesn't show up, and that's my standard of quality

ebarker: Yay for wet blankets! For your second point, I suspect having a footnote like they have on AP textbooks ("FIRSTSearch has no affiliation with and is not endorsed by...") would be better. For your first point, well, James (jashephe, our local graphics dude) will work on it. Thanks.


Thanks all for the feedback. Interested people can look at the source code here: http://svn.robot.mbhs.edu/listing.ph...re.FIRSTSearch . Also feel free to post, email (firstsearch@robot.mbhs.edu), or file bug reports (linked from firstsearch site) with any suggestions and/or complaints.

Oh, and lastly. I've taken down the popular search terms sidebar (those of you with sharp eyes may have noticed that the top ranking one was just a blank - some clown at our school decided to leave his stapler on the refresh key while he went to school), but hope to have that back up soon, as well as maybe the recent search terms sidebar (taken down long ago because, as you put it, we had problems).

[ebarker]

Originally Posted by bytbox

ebarker: Yay for wet blankets! For your second point, I suspect having a footnote like they have on AP textbooks ("FIRSTSearch has no affiliation with and is not endorsed by...") would be better.

The footnote that we used on FIRSTsteps is the exact text the we negotiated with FIRST. So what I'm saying is if you do it as prescribed it fits perfectly with the guidance we were given by FIRST marketing.

I do like the logo though, but rules are rules.

Best Regards,
Ed