Convoluted Search Page using Texturize Template

[lisabee]

I have been digging around the Texturize-Search.sst program and cannot find a way to fix the convoluted layout that appears during the search results. Could you please take a look at www.ccsutlery.com?

Also, when we search for hats it only comes up with one item yet there are over 15 items that utilize the word hat ... is there a set up issue we might have that is preventing the search from finding the word hat in the product descriptions?

[Jim]

I see over 40 hats on the page when I search for "hat". Perhaps your browser is caching the page content.

The layout of the products is dictated by the settings on Preferences > Search Settings > Search Layout. What do you have configured for the 3 settings dealing with templates; Search Template: , Link Template Override: , Product Template Override:.

One thing that would help the layout significantly is to have your images all the same size. There is an option Use Resized Product Images: just below where the templates are configured that will help make the images consistent in size. You should set the resize values for images to exact pixel width not a % of the original. That way when they are used on a page like the search result or Shopping cart the will be consistent. (You do that under Images > Configure and then you would want to use the Create Resized images button to recreate the images all the same size.

[lisabee]

Hmmm ... I have cleared my cache and still only one item is coming up when I search for 'hats'. I'll try from another computer and see how it works there.

I have the Search Template set to Texturize-Search.sst, the Link Template Override is set to search_link and the Product Template Override is set to Congruence-Product.sst. I have set those things all over the place trying to get a better display and gave up with what I have now. Congruence looks great except it doesn't match the rest of the website, which is Texturize. I have even tried unchecking the override boxes but that doesn't seem to make a difference. I understand about the image sizes but I have them set small right now so they shouldn't be affecting the display that much. What I am trying to figure out is how the display goes wacky by the second item that is displayed ... it goes too far to the left kind of like it introduces a new column to the table that doesn't really fit - run a search on 'shoes' and you will see how beginning with the second item it goes crazy.

Maybe you can tell me the best default templates to use if I want the Texturize-Search.sst template.

[lisabee]

Success!

I unchecked the override for the link template and set the override for the product template to the CurvedSearchProductTemplate.sst. Now it looks pretty good.

I did find the search for 'Hat' came up with all the items but the plural form of 'Hats' only comes up with one. Very literal search.

[Jim]

Yes, it does look much better now.

As for searching for "hat" and not finding "hats" , you can do some configuration on the Preferences > Search Settings > Search Layout screen in the "Advanced Search" section. in the field "Search Terms Are:" you can specify "Stems" instead of "Whole word" and specify whether you want to allow something before or after the term the shopper enters. If the box before *STEM* is checked then when searching for "hat" would also find "that" since it has a letter before "hat". If you check the box after *STEM* then words containing "hat" but ending in additonal characters such as "hats" would be found. If both boxes are checked then words that contain "hat" but starting with some letters and ending with some letters would be found. To find plurals like "hats" it would be best to use the checkbox after *STEM*.

You might try changing some of those settings and see if it fits your needs better. Sometimes though, allowing for partial word searches gives so many results that it might cause confusion for the shopper.