Ask YC: What do you think of my new search engine? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask YC: What do you think of my new search engine?

#101

Post by asmosoinio » Fri, Sep 26, 2008, 2:36 AM UTC

calambrac wrote: post #39

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the feedback. I would very much like it to be a "tool" as you describe. I've gone through many design iterations, and have tried to keep the "clutter" down to a minimum. I would be interested to know what specific design elements you think are contributing to this problem. I know you said it isn't really a design problem, but there has to be more to say about it :) Colors? The results on the right?

For me, the highlight-and-underline-on-hover effect is very distracting. It would be nice if the search entry field had a stronger visual separation from the search results. There also needs to be a stronger visual separation between each search result. This might just be that I'm so heavily conditioned by Google, but I'm thrown off by the results being so far from the left edge of the screen. Also, the red, it's a l…

Regarding the "highlight-and-underline-on-hover effect", I liked that. It is really nice that the whole text area works as a link, clicking on a hit is easier. And the highlight, well, highlights that.

Works for me.

Re: Ask YC: What do you think of my new search engine?

#102

Post by gscott » Fri, Sep 26, 2008, 3:17 AM UTC

I know some people like the duck name. I have the domain "askShare.com" that might work better for you. The top part, ask could be the search input and make a bottom part for share, then have a scrolling list of things people are sharing (feeds, etc). I noticed you have a couple of applications based upon sharing (photos, groups) so you are into sharing.

Re: Ask YC: What do you think of my new search engine?

#103

Post by monkkbfr » Fri, Sep 26, 2008, 3:24 AM UTC

Nice.

Re: Ask YC: What do you think of my new search engine?

#104

Post by workpost » Fri, Sep 26, 2008, 3:25 AM UTC

Not bad actually, if you're not just scraping results from other engines (or even if you are), you should keep working on this. When I did searches, I actually found links I was looking for in the first few results. Name is strange but it could grow on me.

duck duck go it!

Re: Ask YC: What do you think of my new search engine?

#105

Post by mynameishere » Fri, Sep 26, 2008, 3:29 AM UTC

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #87

mynameishere wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess they're showing now, or I was doing something wrong before (or, everyone was, given the number of upmods...)

No, you're right. They show for some results and not others. I used to show them for all results, and maybe I should just go back to doing that.

maybe I should just go back to doing that.

Definitely, because you have many more types of links than a normal search engine--some of them are requests for clarification. A URL tells the user "This is a 'hit' that will take you to a different website".

Re: Ask YC: What do you think of my new search engine?

#106

Post by kajecounterhack » Fri, Sep 26, 2008, 3:35 AM UTC

Wow this is great..its the only search engine that actually returns my website when I type in my name (sam liu)

Re: Ask YC: What do you think of my new search engine?

#107

Post by Flemlord » Fri, Sep 26, 2008, 3:47 AM UTC

Very nice--fewer links, but they were all of extremely high quality. Suggestion: Throw this up on 99designs and get some better graphics. The current ones seem amateurish, and not in that good Google kinda way.

Re: Ask YC: What do you think of my new search engine?

#108

Post by jamongkad » Fri, Sep 26, 2008, 4:13 AM UTC

I love the name it's so cute!

Re: Ask YC: What do you think of my new search engine?

#109

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Sep 26, 2008, 4:20 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask YC: What do you think of my new search engine?

#110

Post by tobyo » Fri, Sep 26, 2008, 4:27 AM UTC

agbell wrote: post #43

arockwell wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, pagination would be much better because then I wouldn't have to scroll to see all of the new results.

I like the ajax loading. Internet marketing types will like the ability to see the first X pages all on one page without having to set some parameter (as in google)

Yes, the ajax loading is much less intrusive than loading a new page. It makes it far easier to search through the existing results. It needs one or two UI changes:

1) When you click 'more results' add a divider before the first new result to make it clear which new results just appeared. In most cases the first new link will already be highlighted since the mouse will be hovering overy it but any antsy mouser will not have this benefit.

Also, I notice that I have the tendency (and need) to move the mouse off the first new link so I can read it. This is very inefficient so it would best to append the new results one line below the 'more links' link.

2) Consider adding an auto-scroll to put the first new result at the top or middle of the page to reduce scrolling. This may be disruptive, however.