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The Upgraded Technical Resource Search

Connecting You Instantly to Novell's Largest Repository of Technical Resources

We listen—and we think you'll like the result. We have released an upgraded version of the Technical Resource Search engine. This new version is now available through the support home page, along with a brand new look and feel. We invite you to begin using the upgraded search and send us your feedback.

From TIDs to tips, articles to product documentation: you'll have access to every last bit of technical data. Enter keywords, phrases, even full sentences or a pointed question; our upgraded Technical Resource Search connects you instantly to all we have to offer. At Novell, we continue to raise the bar on online self-support. So sit back and relax: we've built our engine to do more than ever before.

Article Highlights

  • Updated design
  • New "Best Bets" feature
  • Improved quality of search results
  • Ability to search within results

Article Sections

What are the Benefits of the Upgraded Search Tool?

Most systems focus on returning documents. But because it recognizes the actual intent of your query, our search focuses on finding your answers. What's more, we leverage every technical repository within Novell—White papers, AppNotes, Cool Solutions, TIDs, product documentation and much more—now all of this information can be found in one place. The system scours these documents to find the data that's the best match for your query. There's no need to wander our Web site: with one, quick search you know you're searching all Novell's technical resources.

The following improvements will be made as part of this upgrade:

  • Updated design. The simplified interface for the support home page allows you to find the most important information first. And, the new tabs within the search results lets you view the results for all document types quickly and easily.

  • Improved quality. With this upgrade, we have fine-tuned the document tagging which will increase the quality of the search results. Now you will find the right document even faster.

  • Search within results. This feature allows you to fine-tune your initial query by performing another search within the results set that was returned with your first search.

  • Focus your results. This is another enhancement which will help you narrow in on the right document. If your initial query returned a broad results set, the tool will suggest related topics and documents to help you find your answer faster.

  • Enhanced internal reporting. This internal reporting will allow us to see the searches that are being performed and whether or not the right answers are found. This will show us where the gaps are so that we can fill them in.

  • Best bets. This is a brand new feature which allows our engineers to designate certain documents as most relevant for certain queries. This will cause those documents to appear in a special section above all of the other results.

  • Document rating. If you have an opinion about a certain document—rate it! Rating documents will affect its relevancy in future searches.

  • Favorites. Now the documents which you have saved will be easily accessible through the Favorites tab. Just one click and they are at your fingertips.

What Can You Expect Down the Road?

The system is always learning—its accuracy improving. We can optimize it based on reports of searches performed and linked results our customers select as most accurate. There's also feedback: we welcome it, we value it, and most important, we use it to improve the performance of our system. In addition, with every search you initiate, the system evolves on its own. It learns, for example, from the follow-up links that you select. And finally, with portal access will come personalization: you'll get fast results, you'll get accurate results, but what's more, you'll get results tailored specifically to you.

Feedback is Appreciated

We think you'll really like the changes to the Technical Resource Search, but we want to know that you do. Please send any thoughts you have about the search our way, and also send along any ideas for improvements. This tool is for you—it should work the way you want it to.

Send comments to webmaster_support@novell.com.

Anything We Missed?

The Technical Resource Search was designed to be all inclusive: it should search through and retrieve any technical content on our Web site. So if you find that information was in fact overlooked by our system, please do let us know. You'll be helping to improve this tool for yourself and the rest of our customer base.

Send comments to webmaster_support@novell.com.

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