IntraSITE Search™ FAQ
Q. Where can I see examples of IntraSITE Search being used?
Q. What kinds of websites can use IntraSITE Search?
Q. What does my host need for me to use IntraSITE Search?
Q: What FTP program do you recommend to upload IntraSITE Search?
Q. If I need help setting IntraSITE Search up, can you provide support?
Q: The search engine runs very slowly on my server. What gives?
Q: The search engine doesn’t work. I’m freaking out here!
Q: Why does my browser load another page whenever I press the enter key inside my search box?
Q: Some of the same text appears on every page of my website. When I do a search containing that text, every page of my website is shown. How do I fix it?
Q: I want to get rid of the "Results by IntraSITE Search" image. How do I do that?
Q: What's up with your version numbers? You can't be up to version 8 already.
Q. Where can I see examples of IntraSITE Search being used?
A. We’ve installed IntraSITE Search on our own website, WaldenDesign.com. You can also see it on our client sites, including Hip.ca, SaveMoreSportsStore.com, and DoctorV.ca.Q. What kinds of websites can use IntraSITE Search?
A. IntraSITE Search works on any static website with 300 or fewer pages. Depending on the resources of your server, IntraSITE Search may work on a much larger site – try it and see. Dynamic (database driven) sites typically have a built-in search function, so they don’t require IntraSITE Search.Q. What does my host need for me to use IntraSITE Search?
A. Virtually any web host can support IntraSITE Search. All it needs is a PHP4 (or better) environment. To enable caching (for faster returns), intrasite_search.php needs write permissions.Q: What FTP program do you recommend to upload IntraSITE Search?
A: Most FTP programs should work. We recommend the FireFTP plugin for FireFox.Q. If I need help setting IntraSITE Search up, can you provide support?
A. IntraSITE Search is a free product and comes with full installation instructions. If you’re having problems, hopefully the answers in the FAQ on this page will help. Paid support is available from Walden at our regular rates. Contact us for further information.Q: The search engine runs very slowly on my server. What gives?
A: You may experience long indexing times if your server is overloaded or unable to allocate resources properly to PHP. This can happen on inexpensive shared hosting services that overload their servers in order to squeeze out maximum profit.There are a couple of simple fixes you can try before talking to your hosting provider:
Exclude unnecessary directories from the search: In the file "intrasite_search.php", find the preference variable called "$exclusions" and set the variable to contain the names of any unessential directories. Each directory name should be separated from the others by a space:
Make sure to exclude any directories that point to content management systems or other complex dynamic pages. These systems generally take so long to generate pages that IntraSITE Search is impractical. Instead, try to use the built-in search functionality of your blog, CMS or e-commerce system.
Make sure that IntraSITE is able to cache search results: IntraSITE Search now uses a caching system to ensure efficiency on slower servers. To take advantage of this feature, the search engine must be able to write to a file on your server.
To ensure the caching system is working properly, navigate to the following address in your favorite web browser:
You will need to change the URL so that "your-website" is the domain name of your website.
If you see a see a page that contains a bunch of HTML and random text, the caching system is working correctly. If your search engine is running slowly, it's likely your server is overloaded. Talk to your hosting provider or consider upgrading your hosting.
If you see a blank page or you get a "404: Page not found" error, the caching system is not able to work on your server. Contact your hosting provider for information on granting "intrasite_search.php" permission to write to disk.
Q: The search engine doesn’t work. I’m freaking out here!
A: Don’t freak out just yet. Here are a few simple steps to fix most problems:Check your file uploads: Double check that all the IntraSITE Search files have uploaded correctly to the public root folder of your website (step 1 of the installation instructions).
Check the "intrasite_search.php" preference variables: Double check to ensure the preference variables in "intrasite_search.php" have been set up properly (step 2 of the installation instructions). Make sure you’ve uploaded the file to your server with the changes you've made.
Check to see if the server-side script is working correctly: Make sure the script is able to run on your server. After completing the steps above, navigate to the following URL in your favorite web browser:
You will need to change the URL so that "your-website" is the domain name of your website.
If you see a list for every time the word "the" is mentioned in your website, the script is able to work correctly. If not, you will see an error message pointing out where the problem lies. If you don’t understand the error message, enlist the services of a knowledgeable web expert.
Check the HTML header script tag: If you don’t see a blank search results box, double check to make sure the <script> tag has been properly added to your HTML file. The start of your HTML file should look something like the example below:
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<script src="/intrasite_search.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
Check the "intrasite_search.js" preference variables: Make sure the preference variables in "intrasite_search.js" have been set up correctly (step 3 of the installation instructions). Make sure you’ve uploaded the file to your server with the changes you've made.
If the search system is still not working correctly, we recommend you enlist the services of a knowledgeable web expert to help work through the problem. Sometimes all it takes is a fresh set of eyes.
Q: Why does my browser load another page whenever I press the enter key inside my search box?
A: This is probably because your search box is inside a form element. If the code for your search box looks something like the one below, you should change it to remove the form element around the input box.The correct code should look something like this:
Q: Some of the same text appears on every page of my website. When I do a search containing that text, every page of my website is shown. How do I fix it?
A: There is built-in functionality within the IntraSITE Search system to handle this exact problem.For example, if you have a header div with an ID of "header" that contains the word "hello" and you want to stop the header from influencing search results for that keyword, you can make one quick change to the "intrasite_search.php" file.
Find the preference variable called "$remove_ids" and change it to include the element IDs of all the page elements you want to remove from the search results. Multiple element IDs can be used as long as they're separated from each other with a space:
Q: I want to get rid of the "Results by IntraSITE Search" image. How do I do that?
A: We'd prefer you didn't remove the image. The image and the link it contains helps others discover and implement IntraSITE Search into their own websites. The business we receive from new users allows us to continue providing IntraSITE Search for free.However, if you still want to remove the image, simply open the file "intrasite_styles.css" and change the first entry as follows:
position: absolute;
top: 99px;
right: 32px;
width: 400px;
height: 478px;
text-align: left;
border: 1px solid #0b548e;
z-index: 9999;
overflow: hidden;
}
Make sure to upload the file again after you have made your changes.
Q: What's up with your version numbers?
A: Our version number system is based on the system used for Ubuntu (an open-source operating system). The first number stands for the month the version was released, and the last two digits are the year of release.We feel this versioning system has more inherent meaning than traditional methods.
