Looking for ideas on using a site search engine.

[Chris]

Wondering if anyone has had any good luck or any suggestions on implimenting a *free* search engine for their site. The content management software looks like it has some good stuff but I'm not in the mood to either redesign my site or muck around with getting my current layout to work with their templates.

I just want to search my website and have control over what the in/output screens look like for the searches. You know, including things like: location, date of article/page/posting in the result, title of article/page/posting in the result, etc.

fyi: there's a few out there that I've found which might work out, but they reference installing and compiling the software on the server and I'm not sure what soft of limitations there are around that either.

Thanks!

[Matt]

Most of the really good searches require root access to install certain libraries and the like. You might look at phpdig but it can be resource intensive.

The CMS's do have good searches as well. But CMS's have their pitfalls especially the free ones which need updated constantly. That might be your best bet for all the funtions you require however.

Then there is always the google seach script which you can employ. One site off the top of my head that uses it is rsync:

http://samba.anu.edu.au/rsync/ scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see it in action. If I am not mistaken you can remove the logo and the search "www" feature, then hide the radio button to search your site, and then all you are left with is a search box and submit button so it looks like a nice seach on the side of asthetics, but functions on the level of google.

[Chris]

I think I might look into the phpdig a bit; but the Google option is really starting to sound nice. Any idea off hand if the output can be modified so it doesn't look like, well, "Google"? I kind of doubt that you can, but no harm in asking right? I'll poke around on my own if no one knows.

Thanks Matt. And of course thanks to anyone else who responds too

[Chris]

Okay, got an additional question along these lines if anyone's up to it. Checkout the archive or at Penny Arcade. They've got a search really close to what I'm looking for. It's written in PHP so you can't really see much of the source but does anyone know how difficult/easy it would be to impliment something like this? Detailed answers would be awesome.

Second question, mainly for you Matt. The root access you mentioned, I'm assuming that isn't something the comes with most plans. So is it something available with any of the plans, like maybe having a dedicated server. If so and you've got a link to any details I'd be interested in taking a look. Thanks!

And thanks to everyone else too!
- Chris

[Matt]

Writing anything like that from scratch is going to be a real tough chore, if you want it to produce accurate results. I wish the search function in these boards was available as a code snippet, as it works the best I have seen, better than Google in my opinion.

Why don't you write the webmaster and see what script he is using or if he/she developed it themselves? They might have a good suggestion for you.

As for root access, yes, dedicated server owners can have it with our managed or unmanaged plans.

We don't really advertise dedicated servers, except to our existing clients who need them, as they need them. I'll PM you the link to what is available. You can take 50% off of the setup fees on anything you see listed. Those are prices for managed dedicated servers. If you do not want it managed then take $50 off the monthly price on any of those.