Is there a way for a viewer to search for key words on my site?
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My site is a compilation of song lyrics. If someone searches by title on a search engine, I believe that they may be directed to my site, and can then find the title. However, if the search is by key words (not the title of a song, but some lyrics), or if they want to search for key words right from my home page, is there a way to do that? (i.e., set us a “search” button to click on?)
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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As a first try, would this search box widget work for what you are trying to do:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/search-widget/
Take a look through that page and let me know if you have any further questions. I’ll be happy to help.
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Thank you, Rootjosh. That widget may be just what I am looking for.
However, I hate to install it now (and then maybe have problems) without a bit more information.The information on the link/page you sent me says that with this widget the viewer “can easily search for posts and pages you’ve written in the past”. But my site is not really set up like a blog but rather it is an informational web site that does not include my daily comments, etc. Rather, it mainly has (a) a long list of song lyrics on one page and (b) a long list of recipes on another page. So I am looking for a search widget or function that can allow the viewer to type in a phrase or some words and get taken to the line on that long page which contains the words that are searched for. For example, if you are looking for the song “Mary Had a Little Lamb” but forgot the title, I would like a search function where you could search for “fleece as white as snow” and be taken to that line on my long, long page of song lyrics, without having to scroll down the entire page.
My second question is: Can I just follow the simple instructions on the link page you sent me? Is that all there is to installing it? Is there no additional coding, etc. to make the search widget operational?
Thanks. Ken
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Question #1: I think you are just going to have to give it a try and see if it works for you. I haven’t run across your specific use idea in the past, so I don’t have any reference point for results. But I think it SHOULD do what you want.
Question #2: Yes, that is all there is. One of the joys of using WordPress.com vs a self-hosted WordPress site is that we do all that stuff for you.
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Hello, Rootjosh,
I installed the widget (and one good thing is that the search widget appears on ALL 8 or 9 pages, not just the home page). However, it does not seem to work. When I type in some key words (to a song) or even the title to a song, the “answer” is just a few lines quoted from the top of my introduction page, etc., certainly not the words that were searched for. If the “answer” to a search is merely directing the viewer to scroll through that entire page, it is meaningless.
(Also, the history of all the searches I tried shows up on some page (I am not sure where this page is located). If that will interfere with the operation of the website, or will clutter up the website, I would like to delete that.)
Could you please take a look at my site, and try the search widget? http://www.mazzolindicanti.com
If you cannot suggest anything, I guess I will have to give up, and delete the search function.
Thanks. Ken
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So, sadly, I do not think this is going to work for you. Because you have your site set up as a few pages with many lyrics on each, the searchbox just sends people to that page rather than tot he specific lyrics. If each song had it’s own page or post, the search box could be more accurate. But with everything on the same page, it can’t really do anything but point to that one page.
Does that make sense?
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Yes, I understand. Thanks, anyway. I will contact you if I have trouble removing the widget.
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Actually, I do need your help. I went to “Appearance, then Widgets and tied to delete the sidebar ob my pages but that did not work. What am I doing wrong?
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Happy to help.
Let me know if there is anything else I can do for you. Otherwise, thanks for using WordPress.
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Dear Josh,
This is a different topic. Can you please help me with this, as I have difficulties in communicating with Kathryn (can’t read her email replies).
Hello, Kathryn P. (or whoever else is there who can help me).
A while ago Kathryn helped me (by giving me the code) to create page jumps on two of the pages on my site. (The site is http://www.mazzolindicanti.com) It worked. The titles of songs are now highlighted on my “Lyrics Contents” page and when the desired title is clicked on, there is a jump to that song/title on my “Lyrics” page.
Now I want to also have a jump from my “Recipes Contents” page to my “Recipes” page. I used the same coding that Kathryn gave me the first time (changing the anchor word, etc.) but it did not work.
Do I need an entirely different code to input, or am I doing something wrong?
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Hi Ken – can you please try it again, following these directions:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/splitting-content/page-jumps/#jumping-to-an-anchor-on-another-page-or-postMake sure you are using only letters as the page jumps and anchors – not any symbols of any kind. If it still doesn’t work, please point me to a specific page jump/anchor that isn’t working, so I can take a look.
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