phpWordPress 3.2 improved search, then and now

Improved search was the fourth of six features on the phpWordPress 3.2 What’s New page. phpWordPress was a commercial PHP article manager from Spoonlabs, renamed Vivvo in 2006, and it was unrelated to the open-source WordPress project. The release history shows where 3.2 sits, and the changelog has the dated entries.

What did the improved search do?

The archived text reads: “With the new, advanced search it is much easier to refine the search criteria. You can finally take advantage of searching the site with more control over search parameters.” It names no parameters. The page also offered a 2,024 KB QuickTime movie, which is not archived as text.

The changelog gives a little more. On 8 April 2006 it records “Advanced search implemented” and, the same day, a bug fix for searching by date. So date was at least one criterion. Later entries cover a mysql_close call added to full-text search on 14 April, a register-globals setting for advanced search on 2 May, and a fix for the MySQL 3.x branch in 3.25 on 17 May. This shows the feature relied on MySQL full-text search, and that it needed several fixes after release.

What came before it?

Search had a history. On 17 March 2005 the forum described a search update with more detailed result pages, results sorted by relevancy and better display of second-level subcategories. Version 3.0.1 in December 2005 added auto-complete search. The 3.2 release announcement called the new version an “enhanced search function, giving you greater control over the search criteria”.

The pattern is typical: a basic box first, then ranking, then suggestions, then filters. Each step added control for the reader and configuration for the publisher.

How does a publishing CMS handle search today?

Ghost is a useful comparison because it ships search with the product. Its documentation says it includes built-in search so readers can search all published posts, tags and authors. It does not describe date filters or parameter controls. Readers open search through a Ctrl/Cmd+K shortcut in official themes, a navigation link whose URL is “#/search”, or a data-ghost-search attribute that developers add to custom themes.

That is simple on purpose. Ghost’s documentation lists what is searched, not advanced criteria, so a newsroom that wants filtering by section, author and date would need to check whether the theme or an add-on provides it. We have not tested this. The Ghost profile has the assessment.

What should a publisher check in a CMS search?

• What content types are searched: articles, pages, tags, authors.
• Whether drafts, private or members-only items can appear in results.
• Whether results can be ranked, filtered by date or limited to a section.
• Whether search is a core feature or relies on an external service you must run.
• How the search box is added to a theme.

Our changelog reading shows the cost of a hand-built search: bugs tied to a database version and server settings. A search you did not build is a search you can update.

The previous feature was in-place editing, and the next is the new plug-in manager.