Search

What is searched?

The photo search works with the title and the photo’s description. In addition to that the section, in which the photo was uploaded, is considered. If you search for “London”, the photos within the section “London” will also be found – even if the don’t contain the word in title and description.

Of course photos which are in discussion will be searched, but also photos in fotohomes (http://www.fotocommunity.com/info/Fotohome) as long as they are open and not hidden by the photographer.

Besides of the photos the sections of fotocommunity will be listed. If you search for “Portrait” you’ll find the photos as mentioned above and the various sections of fotocommunity as well.

Result weighting

General

There is a weighting for the listing of results. Photos with a lot of comments (http://www.fotocommunity.com/info/Comments_and_contributions) and/or photos which are placed within the gallery (http://www.fotocommunity.com/info/Fotocommunity#The_Gallery-_and_World-Channel) have a higher weighting.

Photos, which are open for discussion, are higher weighted as those in fotohomes only.

The highest weighted photos will be listed first in the results.

Additional information

As mentioned above, there are various key points considered in finding the weighting for a photo (title, description, section). These key points are also part of the weighting process: If the search term is been found within the title, the photo will be higher weighted as if the term appeared within the description.

Advanced search

The advanced search offers the opportunity to manipulate the search. To open it, just click the link in the search feature. There are some operators available, which also can be combined.

Include composite words

The default setting for the search is to find the search term only. The search for “Portrait” will result in listings containing this word only. If the option “include composite words” is activated, you will receive also results as “Portraitstudio” or “Portraitphoto”.

The option works for single search terms only. A search for several terms or the use of search operators is not supported by this option.

If you search sections, this option is activated by default to display a wide range of possible hits.

Similar words as well

If you activate this option, results which are like the search term will be displayed as well. The feature is very useful if for example different writing is used for the same term. A classical example would be “motive” which for example also can be written as “motif”.

The “similar words as well” option usually results in a higher number of hits. It depends from case to case if it is reasonable to use it or not.

The option works for single search terms only. A search for several terms or the use of search operators is not supported by this option.

Include names of photographers

If you activate this option the names of the photographers are searched as well. It results in listing all photos from the user “Mr. Bird” in addition to all the bird photos if your search term is “Bird”.

Include all languages

The default setting for the search is to look within the actual selected language version only. If you activate “include all languages” the other language versions will also be searched. Of course you will receive more results by activating this option.

Channel limitation

If you pre select a channel in the drop down menu, results from this particular channel will be shown only.

Search operators

The search offers the opportunity to use operators to adjust the results.

If the search term contains more than one word, the AND operator will automatically be used.

AND

The operator “AND” enables the search for at least two terms which both have to show of in the expected results. It can be used as a limiter for search results. The search for “Portrait AND outdoor” will deliver a more detailed list of results than the search for “Portrait” only.

OR

The operator “OR” will search for at least two different terms. If you search for “house OR garden” results will show up, which contain at least one of these terms.

NOT

The “NOT” operator allows to exclude special terms. If you search for “Car NOT Renault” you’ll receive all cars except those photos which contain Renault in the title, description or section.

*

The “*” (joker) allows to search for parts of a word. While the search for “cat” will deliver results where the term stands alone, the search for “cat*” will deliver results like catalogue, caterpillar or catportrait as well.

This operator is offered within the “include composite words” function. This works (as mentioned above) for single terms only. By the use of the operator you also can combine search terms. So the search for “dog*” OR “cat*” can be realized as well and will deliver results which contain the term “dog” or “cat” in any way.

~

The “~” (tilde) allows to search for similar words.

This operator is offered within the “similar words as well” function. This works (as mentioned above) for single terms only. By the use of the operator you also can combine search terms. So the search for “dog~” OR “cat~” can be realized as well.

Limitations

At the moment the results are limited to 500 photos. Within the sections 30 results will be displayed.

The following areas still have their own search at the moment:

• Online help (http://www.fotocommunity.com/info/Help)
• List of photographers (http://www.fotocommunity.com/pc/pc/fotografen/1/sort/1)
• Text forums (http://www.fotocommunity.com/forum/index.php)

All public areas of fotocommunity are also registered by internet search engines. You can use those engines for a search as well.

Timelines

The information of a new photo/photographer/section needs to be transferred into the search database. This can take up to three hours. Please be aware of this fact when searching.