Tips for Effectively Using the Search Page

The SEARCH page is the interface for allowing users to search news articles by keywords, filter by news agency and category, view results in a card-based layout, and interact with features like social sharing, AI summarization, and community posting. Below are suggestions on how to best use it, categorized for clarity.

1. Performing Searches

  • Start with Basic Keywords: Enter terms in the "Search" textbox (e.g., "climate change"). The page supports full-text search on headlines and summaries. Press Enter or let it auto-postback to refresh results.
  • Use Advanced Syntax for Precision:
    • Quotes for Phrases: Search for exact phrases like "electric vehicles" to match whole strings.
    • Boolean Operators: Combine terms with AND (default for multiple words), OR, or negation (e.g., tesla OR spacex -musk to exclude Elon Musk-related results).
    • Thesaurus Expansion: The backend uses SQL CONTAINS with FORMSOF(THESAURUS) for synonyms, so searches like "car" might include "automobile" automatically.
  • Autocomplete Feature: As you type, suggestions appear (powered by AutoSuggest.asmx). Select one to auto-fill and trigger a search.
  • Best Practice: Keep queries under 50 characters for faster results. If no results show, clear filters or broaden terms—the page logs cache hits/misses for performance.

2. Applying Filters

  • News Agency Dropdown: Select a specific site (e.g., "CNN" or "BBC") to limit results. It populates dynamically from search data. Choose "All" for unfiltered views.
  • Category Dropdown: Narrow by topics like "Politics" or "Technology." This also updates based on current search results.
  • Combining Filters: Use keyword + agency + category for targeted searches (e.g., "AI" in "Technology" from "NYTimes"). The page caches filtered data for 1 hour, so repeated searches are quick.
  • Best Practice: Start broad ("All" for both dropdowns), then refine. If dropdowns are empty, it means no matching data—try a new keyword first.

3. Navigating and Interacting with Results

  • GridView Layout: Results display as cards with:
    • Image (falls back to news outlet logo if missing).
    • Headline (clickable link to the original article).
    • Truncated summary (first 150 characters).
    • Metadata like site, sentiment score (colored via heatmap: green for positive, red for negative).
  • Pagination: Use the pager at the bottom to navigate pages (shows ~10 pages at a time, centered on current). Change page size in code if needed (default is 1 for flipbook-style, but adjustable via PageSize).
  • Sorting: Click column headers (e.g., "Date") to sort ascending/descending. Default is by date descending.
  • Dropdown in Results: Each card has a "More Stories" dropdown to switch between related headlines without full refresh.
  • Iframe Viewing: Articles load in an iframe below results. If CORS blocks it, it falls back to a static image with a link—click to open externally.
  • Best Practice: For mobile, zoom/pinch on cards. Use "Top of Page" button to scroll up quickly.

4. Sharing and Social Features

  • Social Icons: Each card has icons for sharing to X (Twitter), Threads, Reddit, Truth Social, GETTR, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or email. Click to pre-populate with summary and URL.
  • Community Posting: Click the share-nodes icon to open a dropdown for posting to SiteScraper Community. Choose post type (Blog, Bookmark, Discussion) and submit—requires API key (loaded automatically).
  • Best Practice: Use sharing for quick dissemination, but verify facts first. Track events via Google Analytics (e.g., search submits are logged).

5. AI and Summarization Tools

  • Azure AI Button (Rocket Icon): Click to open an overlay for summarizing the article. It generates a neutral summary initially, with options to regenerate in tones like "Concise" or "Bullet Points." Ask follow-ups in the chat input.
  • Grok AI Button (Robot Icon): Similar to Azure, but uses Grok for summarization and chat. Supports regeneration and follow-ups.
  • Quick Actions in Overlay: Copy summaries to clipboard or open in Copilot/Grok for deeper analysis.
  • ChatGPT Integration: Click the comment-dots icon to query ChatGPT directly with the summary.
  • Best Practice: Use for quick insights on long articles. Start with "Neutral" tone, then experiment. Overlays close on backdrop click or ESC—great for iterative querying without leaving the page.
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