Forum Display Enhancements - Simplify Search Feature to be Forum Only

Many site owners (myself included) use vBulletin primarily for its forum. These sites tend to have the vast majority of their content in the forum, and relatively little elsewhere. This is especially true of smaller sites.

In such cases, the vBulletin Advanced Search feature is overly complicated, confusing, and user-unfriendly. I noticed this the first time I used vBulletin software many years ago, and the problem still persists to this day.

If you're like me, you simply want the Advanced Search feature to search forum threads/posts only, and you want the form to be as simple as possible for the user.

This modification does not add anything to vBulletin. Instead, it subtracts a lot of extraneous search choices, and makes it easier on users of sites where the forum is the main feature.

Note that this mod removes the ability to search anything but the forum, so don't install it if you want to keep the ability for users to search blogs, groups, etc.



In this mod, you will be editing three templates: navbar, search_common, search_common_select_type

In navbar search for:

<li><a href="search.php{vb:raw session.sessionurl_q}" accesskey="4">{vb:rawphrase advanced_search}</a></li>

Change that to:

<li><a href="search.php?search_type=1{vb:raw session.sessionurl_q}" accesskey="4">{vb:rawphrase advanced_search}</a></li>

In search_common search for:

<h3 class="blocksubhead">{vb:rawphrase search_in}</h3>

Right ABOVE it, add:

<!--

Then search for:

<h3 class="blocksubhead">{vb:rawphrase search_for}</h3>

Right ABOVE it, add:

//-->

Then search for:

	<li class="selected"><a href="search.php{vb:raw session.sessionurl_q}">{vb:rawphrase search_multiple_types}</a></li>

Right ABOVE it, add:

<!--

Right BELOW it, add:

//-->

In search_common_select_type, search for:

			<li><a href="search.php{vb:raw session.sessionurl_q}">{vb:rawphrase search_multiple_types}</a></li>

Right ABOVE it, add:

<!--

Right BELOW it, add:

//-->

Then search for:

{vb:raw input_search_types}

Right ABOVE it, add:

<!--

Right BELOW it, add:

//-->

OPTIONAL:
Finally, just for aesthetics, go into the Phrase Manager (in Admin Control Panel) and do Search in Phrases. Enter "search_single_type" in the Search For Text box, and click the radio button for Phrase Variable Name Only. Then click Find.

When you get the results (should be search_single_type), click Edit. In the text box, type "Search Forum", and then press Save.


That's it!

You will notice that most of this mod is simply commenting out features we don't need. I have found that many small sites will benefit from this mod.

See attachment for a screen shot of the Advanced Search feature on my forum, with this mod.

[MikeTrin]

Thanks for the post. I have been meaning to do this thanks for making it quick.

[autoescala]

Thanks!

[autoescala]

Thanks!! Works like a charm,

Some one know how to be able to have a search in the navbar like this site ? vbulletin.org ?

[neya]

Tagged, will deff install this later when I have the time, and I have to agree, the search has always been a pain to me, especially having to wait 30 seconds when making mistakes.

[adfields]

Thanks for this mod! I've followed the instructions but our search screen is different from the screen shot - the Additional Options seem to be following the Multiple Content Search format rather than the Single Content.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

[sub_ubi]

Thank you very much.

For those of you who want to keep functionality but default to forum-only search, simply do the navbar change above and nothing else.

[Dan Druff]

Originally Posted by adfields

Thanks for this mod! I've followed the instructions but our search screen is different from the screen shot - the Additional Options seem to be following the Multiple Content Search format rather than the Single Content.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

Not sure why that is happening. The instructions here worked for several others.

Which vBulletin version are you using?

[PetrK]

Thanks to this mode we have a clear search in our forum. Thank you very much.

I have one more question. Please, How do I delete a search box "Tag:"?

Thanks, Petr