Hello Ron, Wednesday, August 25, 2004, 6:22:32 PM, you wrote: <cut> RB> This is exactly what the general search does. I'm trying to guess how you RB> feel it doesn™t. I guess if you put Finger and Boulder in the chapter name RB> field that would give you either Finger or the Boulder chapter depending on RB> which submit button you click. Perhaps I need to make these two more RB> visually separate or even on separate pages. The other thing that might RB> make things more clear would be to rearrange the list that comes from the RB> US map to put the zip code in the first column so it is clear that it is zip RB> sorted. I think people would recognize the towns around them if they look RB> for names with similar zip code. I could put a suggestion to use the first 3 RB> digits of zip code or the phone area code as a way to get a wider search. RB> I'm glad that you have gotten clients from the web site. We have a very RB> powerful tool here for a minium of work an little expense. I welcome your RB> viewpoints and suggestions. First, my message was not "about" you, Ron, or at least not intended to be. Otherwise I would have e-mailed you directly. The fact is, in my recent efforts to learn about web related matters for my personal use (especially in more discrete, behind-the-scenes things), I have newfound respect for *any* webmaster. And considering what you've done since the early days of the PTG site versus its current demands and complexity, I'm surprised you're not in a rubber room by now! I'd like to go on record in thanking you for your part in bringing PTG (no doubt kicking and screaming), into the digital age on the web. Instead, my comments were about what I expect as a typical user, assuming I accurately follow the on-screen instructions. When I went to the general search page, I did not enter *any* names, addresses, chapters or otherwise. I entered 'Boulder' in the City box, and 'CO' in the drop-down box, then clicked 'Submit'. Everything else was left blank and/or defaults. I was taken to the following page each time: <http://www.ptg.org/rptsearch/show_chapter_list.php?Chapnum=&Chapname=&Region=&B1=Submit> Essentially, this was the cause of my frustration and subsequent venting. New information: Before making this reply, I just retraced the same steps, and found that things are working *exactly* as expected. IOW, I got six hits, specifically in Boulder. YES! This is the way I expected it to work before, and indeed the engine is a powerful tool... when it's working correctly. For troubleshooting purposes, I do understand that the URL above could possibly be triggered when a typo is made. Other margins of (my user) error, I did not "Reset" the form each time after going "back" in my browser, but am pretty sure I did press "Submit" instead of "Enter" with repeated attempts, to help deter the effects of any cached pages on my browser. Other than that, I don't know what else to add... except... I suppose I can consider the matter closed, with apologies. -- Regards, Jim mailto:harvey@greenwood.net
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