We Want Your Input on the New SearchTempest.com Results Page!

Oct. 29th/2012 UPDATE: After a few minor tweaks based on your suggestions, we have pushed these changes to the live site. Please let us know what you think via comment on this post or posting to our Facebook page.
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Based on the feedback we have received from you, our lovely users, we have re-done the SearchTempest.com results page! We have made things simpler, easier to use, and more intuitive. You can still do everything you could on the old site, with some new stuff too, it’s just packaged now in a easier to read and understand, and nicer to look at, package.

The new site is not live yet and that’s because we wanted to get your feedback on it so we can make it the best it can be before we make it live. You can start playing around with it at Beta.SearchTempest.com and you can learn more about the changes made below. Have thoughts on what could be improved or just want to tell us how awesome you think it is? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page.

Changes

  • The first thing you will probably notice is that the “Separate Cities”, “All Cities Together”, and “Direct Results” tabs are gone. Instead, we have settled on two modes: “Combined Results” and “Direct Results”. “Direct Results” looks and acts just like it used to. Since “Separate Cities” and “All Cities Together” provided the same information, just displayed differently (the former sorting results by cities, the latter by individual results), we have put those two in the same mode, which we call “Combined Results”. You can switch between the old “Separate Cities” and “All Cities Together” modes by choosing how you want to sort the results from the “Sort by:” dropdown. Select “Distance”, “State”, or “City Size” to sort by city (“Separate Cities”); choose “Most Recent” or “Best Match” to sort by individual results (“All Cities Together”).
  • You will also notice that we got rid of the upper tabs as well. “Modify Search” can now be called from the “Full Search” button in the search bar and “Display Options” has become the “Preferences” link in the results page.
  • We have generally cleaned up the page to make it less cluttered and easier to take in the information you need and leave out the stuff you don’t.

Date Filter

We have also added a new feature that we have had many requests for, and that is the ability to filter the results by the dates they were posted. You will see a new field with the label “Within the last # days:”. Pretty self-explanatory, but if you put the number 2 in there, you will only get results that are max 2 days old. Pretty awesome, right?

Please check out the new site and let us know how we can make it better for you!

42 thoughts on “We Want Your Input on the New SearchTempest.com Results Page!”

  1. Tempest Nathan

    Hi Skip,

    Thanks, I’m glad you like the Direct Results mode! Certainly preferences vary, but it’s good to know some people like it even better than the frames! Yes, closing the index page did close the results page in the past, but we had some feedback pointing out that it’s strange behavior that closing one browser window should automatically close a completely separate window. There may be cases where a person is done with the index and wants it out of the way, but wants to keep their results window around, so we figured it was best to leave that up to the user.

    As far as your other questions, I can’t speak for craigslist or presume to guess what their motivations might be. I know that they explicitly allow general purpose search engines to index their results though, so that’s why Google is able to do so.

  2. Skip

    I think this latest iteration of ST is terrific. Congrats, Nathan, on not only overcoming obstacles, but improving in the face of them. I didn’t think you could improve on the i-frame mode, but the direct results is even better. BTW, closing the index page used to also close the results page, didn’t it?

    So, if CL has thwarted most other attempts to utilize the data on their site, how is it that Google does it with impunity? Are they still working to block you, or do you think they finally realize that you’re an asset?

  3. Bill

    Will Searchtempest come out w/ an APP similar to what Craiglist notifier app used to be (the old one not the current one). The app would search every 5 mins for a keyword you inputed into it on your smartphone. I sure miss that APP, and wish there was something like it out there.

    eBay has the “save searches plus notifier” feature, where you can receive notifications when new items from that keyword are listed. I use it quite often, but again that’s eBay only.

    Would be nice if Searchtempest had a way to do this either right here on your site by “saved searches” which notify you by email or the APP version.

    Thanks,
    Bill

    1. Bill

      I forgot to mention that the old version of that app (craiglist notifier) would let you search in other areas by you putting in the zip code plus radius, similar to what the searchtempest does on the search tab. Their new app only allows you to do either local, or having to manually click on the cities/states/areas and adding them to your search, which becomes a PITA and it is not user friendly.

      Thanks,
      Bill

      1. Court Demone Post author

        Hey Bill,

        An app is in the works, but for the time being, have you tried using our “Feeds for this search” feature? Basically, we can’t detect when an ad has been made for each individual search and notify you, but we CAN put together all the RSS feeds you’d need so that whenever an ad is posted that fits your search, it’ll show up in the RSS feed. You can learn how to set all of that up by clicking the “Feeds for this search” button in the top right of the results page.

        Hope that helps!

  4. Sean

    Did a search “Searching worldwide (outside the US)” downloaded the RSS file and attempted to import it and it fails. Did a search with “Searching by distance from you” downloaded the RSS file ad it works 100%. The failure is “Failed to load OPML file” only with the “Searching worldwide (outside the US)”. I’m using RSS popper – any suggestions?

    1. Sean

      Google Reader works 100% – But the frame they provide is to small and the feed is cut short. I will look for another RSS reader. No idea why the OPML file failed with RSS popper.

      1. Court Demone Post author

        Hmm, ya not entirely sure what’s going there. Happy to hear that you’re on your way to figuring it out though!

  5. andrea

    None of this is clear or easy any longer. I would like for you to go back to the old way it looked where I could do a search by most recent and across the country and have it pop up like that. Now I have to try and figure out which button to hit to make the TWO drop-downs that offer “MOST RECENT” to stick and do a search like that. And, what’s that window that pops up in the middle of everything, blocking my options?? And, where’s the gold star that I’m supposed to click on the save a particular search? I’ve hit it a million times and it never allows for my searches to be saved, and doesn’t tell me that anything’s saved – I have to enter the same search criteria time after time, but it always says “click here to save this” and it never works. I really do not like this site any longer at all. Too frustrating, and too damn long for it to load these basic criteria.

    1. Court Demone Post author

      Hi Andrea, sorry that you’re having problems with the site! I’ll do my best to help you solve them.

      It sounds like your browser is having issues saving your settings. There’s a chance that either you need to clear your cache or you have cookies disabled and need to reenable them. Once that is done, your searches should save properly and the site should stay in the same sort mode for every search!

      As for the “window that pops up in the middle of everything” I’m not exactly sure what you’re referring to. Could you give me more information? Thanks!

      Hope this helps!

  7. Michele

    You might want to double check your algorithm. I just searched jobs in web design with telecommuting as a filter, and nothing shows up within 3500 miles…BUT…if I open the cities individually with no filter, there are a number of them showing up in each city.

    Your algorithm seems to be off.

    1. Michele

      Forgot to note, this seems to be only in direct results mode, and only in Firefox. Still checking other browsers.

    2. Court Demone Post author

      Hey Michele!

      Thanks for giving us a shout! Since Direct Results opens new windows that go straight to craigslist, the issue is probably more related to craigslist than us. I’m assuming that the posts aren’t properly marked as telecommuting, and because of that aren’t showing up in the search with telecommuting selected. Does that sound like a possibility?

  8. Deborah

    Previously, I could remove the sponsored ads for a month. Now it seems they are always there. Was this a deliberate change?

    1. Court Demone Post author

      Hey Deborah,

      You can still remove the sponsored ads for a month, the button has just been moved to under the sidebar ads on the right and to the bottom right of the sponsored ads frame in the results.

      As a site that stays afloat via advertising, we figured we’d try making those a “Hide ads” buttons a *little* less obvious to see how it affected things. Hope it’s not that big of an inconvenience!

  9. Matt lewicki

    Really dislike the changes. Recent search displayed over 50% deleted listings — this never happened before.

    I much preferred the previous incarnation with separate windows over this. This is of no real use to me anymore, will look into other CL search options. Sad for me since I’ve been using ST for years and suggested it to many people. Once again a good thing is “improved” out of existence.

    1. Court Demone Post author

      Hey Pete,

      Could you let us know what you find confusing and annoying about the changes so we can look at improving the site?

      Thanks!

  11. BubbaS

    Not sure how I like the new site. Used it religiously until CL changed format. Liked the “All cities” results but could never get the distance filter to work.

    I have the same question as Andrew. Why the large number of browser tabs open during a search? Using Firefox. Filled in zip and search terms, hit enter. At least twenty tabs opened. Copied the address from the first tab below. Perhaps it will help.

    http://www.google.com/uds/afs?q=guitar%20record%20list&client=pub-9163346843638859&channel=5288577002&hl=en&r=m&lines=2&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&fexp=21404%2C38724&format=w20&ad=w20&nocache=1351642096791&num=0&output=uds_ads_only&v=3&adlh=on&adext=as1%2Csr1&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.searchtempest.com%2Fresults.php%3Flocation%3D24073%26maxDist%3D3500%26region_us%3D1%26search_string%3Dhound%2Brecord%2Blist%26keytype%3Dadv%26Region%3Dna%26cityselect%3Dzip%26page%3D0%26category%3D8%26subcat%3Dsss%26minAsk%3Dmin%26maxAsk%3Dmax&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.searchtempest.com%2F&u_his=2&u_tz=-240&dt=1351642096792&u_w=1680&u_h=1050&bs=1664,872&ps=1664,872&frm=0&loader=alt#master-2

      1. BubbaS

        Nope. Still happens when I clear and disable everything.

        Appears to happen when I have a long search string in which there are few/no results. For example, try searching for the following from a random zip:
        “bloodhound cocker spaniel terrier lab”

        On my end, I had two new tabs open up. I also had two CL cities on the SearchTempest page that failed to close and displayed “Retrieving results from Google…”

        Also, seems to happen worse when there are many tabs already open.

        Hope this helps.

        1. Court Demone Post author

          Thanks for all the info! I’m still unable to recreate the problem, but I would like to help find a solution. If you’re using Firefox, could you go to the SearchTempest page where you get these pop ups from and hit Ctrl+Shift+K. That should bring up a pane with a list of warnings. Could you copy and paste those into a comment here for me to take a look at?

        2. Tempest Nathan

          You tried disabling all add-ons and restarting Firefox? A bugged add-on would be the most likely culprit for something like this. Also, you’re running the most recent version (currently 16)?

          If so, please do let us know what comes up in that console that Court mentioned, as we definitely do want to get to the bottom of this.

          1. BubbaS

            Am using Firefox 16.0.2

            Tried it again. Opened two tabs.

            Here is the Ctrl+Shift+K info:
            [16:27:12.051] Unknown property ‘-moz-box-shadow’. Declaration dropped. @ http://www.searchtempest.com/results.php?search_string=bloodhound+cocker+spaniel+terrier+lab+beer+bottles&category=8&Region=na&cityselect=zip&location=37865&maxDist=400&region_us=1&srchType=&showeb=1&keytype=adv&minAsk=&maxAsk=&subcat=sss:1

            [16:27:12.075] Unknown property ‘user-select’. Declaration dropped. @ http://www.searchtempest.com/results.php?search_string=bloodhound+cocker+spaniel+terrier+lab+beer+bottles&category=8&Region=na&cityselect=zip&location=37865&maxDist=400&region_us=1&srchType=&showeb=1&keytype=adv&minAsk=&maxAsk=&subcat=sss:1

            Hope this helps

        3. Court Demone Post author

          I hate to say it, but I’ve tested every thing I can think of with the information you’ve provided and have not been able to recreate that bug.

          That means there’s either something we’re not accounting for or there’s something unique about your set up that is causing the bug to happen. Usually, that means a bug caused by an add-on or a piece of anti-virus or ad-blocking software, as Nathan suggested. Other than that, I can’t really know what it might be without taking a look at your computer.

          Does SearchTempest work in other browsers, like IE or Chrome?

    2. Tempest Nathan

      By the way, you can still get the All Cities mode; we’ve just combined it with the old Stacked Cities to create the new ‘Combined Results’ mode. To get all cities in one list, just choose one of the ‘Single list’ sorts in the first sort dropdown above the results (either Most Recent or Best Match). Of course, we’ll have to get this bug you’re running into figured out first!

  12. Andrew

    Haven’t figured out the new CL search yet. First I have to figure out why it’s trying to open a seemingly infinite number of browser windows. I’ve had to use the Windows Task Manager to kill the browser. Anyone else having this problem?

    1. Court Demone Post author

      Yikes! That’s the first we’ve heard of an issue like that. When do those browser windows open for you? After clicking something in particular? Also, what browser are you using?

  13. Dave

    Between the “craigslist changed” and ST changes – this site unfortunately has no continuity and is nowhere near as useful as it used to be – the interface keeps changes and is impossible to understand.

    Why can’t price be shown and thumbnail ?

    I’m using my Craigs+ iphone app – much more useful, consistent, and accurate

    1. Court Demone Post author

      Thanks for your comment and being a user this far Dave!

      Due to limitations placed on us by craigslist, we have to get results by using Google, which doesn’t grab prices and only grabs thumbnails in certain situations. This is the best we can do, at least for now.

      Hopefully, as we expand our feature set and improve upon the site you’ll enjoy using it again, but feel free to use Craigs+ in the mean time if you find it more enjoyable.

  14. Jeff

    I like how the old format had a larger “previous” and “next” buttons because they are easier to use on my phone. Also, I don’t see that at the bottom of the page any more, which doesn’t make any since because after I’ve scrolled to the bottom of the page looking at everything the next thing I want to do is go to the next page, not go back to the top of the page.

    ~ Thanks

    1. Court Demone Post author

      Thanks for the comment Jeff! We’re aware of the issue with the lack of pagination at the end of the regular results. We’re going to be leaving it like that for just a little longer as we test something, but it will be back to normal shortly.

      As for the previous/next buttons being too small on your phone, we are working on a dedicated mobile site that will be way easier to use on your phone.

    2. Tempest Nathan

      That’s a good point though. Until we do release the mobile site (and heck, even once we do), we should make the prev/next buttons larger for folks on mobile browsers. You’ll see this soon; thanks for the idea!

  15. Peter

    Loved the old site – I used it to search all craig’s list posts in one place. The new default google search results don’t return all active CL posts, which seems to defeat the purpose of the site. The new multi-window “find all results” is frustrating because you can’t open the results in their own tab and clicking back and forth on multiple listings is time consuming. I’m sure you heard this before, but just wanted to emphasize that on a site that searches all CL posts, the default option *should* be to search *all* CL posts.

    1. Court Demone Post author

      Thanks for the comment Peter!

      We totally agree. Unfortunately, limitations have been placed on us by craigslist making our current set up the best we can do, at least for now. We like to think that, though the new way of doing things is flawed, it is still much more beneficial than the alternative of searching each site individually.

      You can read more about why we’ve had to change here:
      http://www.searchtempest.com/faq.php#resultschange

      1. Tempest Nathan

        Right. Neither the combined nor the direct results mode is perfect. Combined results is basically like what you’d get by searching craigslist through Google, but with a few extra features like setting the category and search radius. Direct mode is just like searching manually, except that you can quickly flip through multiple cities.

        So either way, certainly not perfect, but better than the alternatives. (And of course we’re working continually to improve!)

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