 |
jmueller0823
User
Oct 20, 2003, 12:38 PM
Post #1 of 5
(3061 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Considering purchase.. pros and cons...
|
Can't Post
|
|
We are a very satisfied Article Manager customer, now considering purchase of the Search Engine...
We're currently using the Atomz express search service. Now that we've exceeded the page maximum for the "free" service, we're investigating other options.
Tell me how the InteractiveTools Search compares with service providers such as Atomz, picosearch, etc. Aside from the lower cost, what advantages do you see? Disadvantages?
What about performance issues? We have just over 500 pages.
Thanks.
Jim
g r o w t h t r a c dot c o m
Life Changing Resources for Your Marriage
(This post was edited by jmueller0823 on Oct 20, 2003, 12:45 PM)
|
|
| |
|
Donna
Staff
/ Moderator
Oct 20, 2003, 5:03 PM
Post #2 of 5
(3055 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Re: [jmueller0823] Considering purchase.. pros and cons...
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
Hi there!
Thanks for your post. :)
While I'm not familiar enough with the other services you've used, here's a few things about Search Engine:
- Search Engine searches on the server, rather than what's being published to the web, so it doesn't have to rely on following links the way a spider does -- you tell it what directory to search, and it'll index all the files in it.
- You can easily set any of the files or directories to be ignored by looking at a full list of everything that Search Engine finds.
- Search Engine will search any plain text document -- so if your site is in html, shtml, php, asp, coldfusion... Search Engine will have no problem with it.
- Search Engine is recommended for up to 500 pages, but this is dependent on your web host. For example, my own instance of search engine regularly searches will over 1500 files without any noticable slowdown. However, depending on the memory of your server, you may notice that searches take longer to perform if you have over 500 files being searched.
- Search Engine is totally customizable based on templates, similar to how Article Manager and our other products work.
- Search Engine allows you to categorize your site. So, if you want your users to be able to narrow their searches down to specific relevant areas of your site, you can easily set that up.
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. :)
Donna
Hire me!
Save time by getting our experts to help with your project. Template changes, advanced features, full integration, whatever you need. Whether you need one hour or fifty, get it done fast with Priority Consulting.
|
|
| |
|
Fazzer
User
Oct 21, 2003, 2:57 AM
Post #3 of 5
(3047 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Re: [jmueller0823] Considering purchase.. pros and cons...
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
I too am a happy Article Manager user and have already taken the plunge and purchased the Search engine.
Like article manager it is a breeze to install and configure - adapting the templates is very easy. I am amazed at the relatively low cost of this script for what it delivers. The ability to define exactly what it can or cannot search is a real boon. As is the ability to define categorised search criteria.
I can't fault it in any way and I also find the reports extremely useful, you can list successful searches and unsuccessful searches. This has notified us of some shortfalls in our web presence and we have provided the information our users were looking for.
|
|
| |
|
jmueller0823
User
Oct 21, 2003, 7:21 AM
Post #4 of 5
(3042 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Re: [Fazzer] Considering purchase.. pros and cons...
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
Tell about potential server resource issues...
For example: How large does the index file get? What about server load?
And I'm concerned about the 500 page "limit"...
Jim
g r o w t h t r a c dot c o m
Life Changing Resources for Your Marriage
|
|
| |
|
Cliff
Staff
Oct 22, 2003, 4:56 PM
Post #5 of 5
(3030 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Re: [jmueller0823] Considering purchase.. pros and cons...
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
Hi jmueller0823
Thanks for posting.
The size of your index file depends on the size (or how much text is in) of your HTML pages, so the bigger the page is, the bigger the index file will be.
Server load really depends on how often people are performing searches, how many pages are being searched at a time, etc. We haven't had any problems with search engine and server load issues when used on a website within the recommend maximum number of pages.
Regarding the 500 page limit, we have some people who have well over a 1000 pages and Search Engine works just great. Additionally, to help performance you can split large sites up into categories. So if you have 2000 pages on your site, you can split the search into 400 or 500 pages per category, it will help the program work more efficiently.
Regards,
Cliff Stefanuk - Customer Service Manager
support@interactivetools.com
|
|
| |
| | |
|
