Simple indexing To create a searchable index of files, we simply selected a directory on the network and chose the file types we wanted to index. Our test directory included Microsoft Word and Excel files, XyWrite files and straight text files. From the main application, we could monitor the search engine's activity and configure some Web-specific features such as the server's port number. Unfortunately, we were unable to control access by individual database, which would have enabled us to include both public and private databases on the same Web page. Other con-figuration options let us set the maximum number of documents found per search and how long search results would be cached.
Visitors can choose to rank their results by relevancy, date, number of hits or size of document.
The HTML viewing option worked well for word processor and text documents, but files such as spreadsheets didn't convert well and had to be downloaded. Using the product's results editor, we were able to change the way the results displayed. Unfortunately, the supplied editor is difficult to use, lacks contextual user aids and requires a high level of HTML coding knowledge. How to improve site searches Indexes, meta tags can help visitors find answers Without a doubt, the weakest link in almost every large Web site is its search capability. It's amazing how many large, well-structured sites have search capabilities that are almost useless.