Search function fixes/improvements

[chipzoller]

This issue will serve as a general post for aggregation of all fixes and suggested improvements to the search function within the Compose theme. It will be updated over time.

Fixes

1. After entering and then removing search terms from the search box, the results drop-down does not clear which obstructs the page and can only be removed by either refreshing or navigating away. Example (at 0:27)

2. When entering a search term for which at least one match is known, then removing that term and typing a new one for which there are no known matches returns all possible pages even though this is false. This represents different behavior than when the page is clean and then searching for the same term (again, for which there are no matches). The search function appears to stop evaluating the search box input after >0 matches are found. Example

3. Similar to the above, when entering a search term for which there are known matches, pausing while typing, then continuing to add characters to the end of that word does not eliminate any results. This gives the false impression that the word typed has matches on pages. Example

4. Searches that include only integers appear to be either broken or returning results invisible to the user. A search that contains an exact match appears to return the correct results, however, but it's unclear where this breaks down. Example

Improvements

1. When clicking a search result after entering a keyword, the page returned could be very long and is not clear where that keyword is located. It would be helpful for there to be some better visual/UX "pointer" to show the user where specifically that term is located, or if multiple on a given page handling for multiple results.

2. Including multiple words (space separated) in the search box should be treated as a single string, not return results for each word separately.

3. This search functionality does not have the capability to enter a term and hit "enter" which then presents a separate page with the findings of the search. This lack of behavior makes searching a bit difficult to initially understand. Not sure how it could be implemented, but a more "traditional" approach as a response to this behavior might be better.

4. Search should account for specifying keyword(s) in double or single quotes to ensure literal string matches.

5. Search appears to view the entire site as its domain. There should be a parameter which limits the field of vision of the search indexing to exclude, as an example, the home page if desired. Presently, searching for something like "GitHub" which appears only on the home page, is returned by search.

6. Search should allow for finding substrings. For example, on the home page is the string "forestry.io" which appears nowhere else. This is only returned if the user types "forestry.io" exactly as it appears. While wildcard globbing seems to work (searching for "forestry*" returns the result), you might want to allow for substring match without it.

7. It would be super great to be able to constrain where matches should be returned. For example, a user might choose to search only for terms found within a code block versus other text. Or a user might choose to only search within notes.

8. Similar to the above feature, a user may wish to constrain a search to a page (with children) on which focus is currently set rather than performing the search globally. May want to investigate some ability to detect the current page and offer to perform the search on that page and down (traverse links) or something similar.

[chipzoller]

Some types of searches with special characters cannot be executed. For example, searching for ->> which is found on this page.

[chipzoller]

Idea: Since the search bar is always at the top, either implement a "jump-to-top" button like in Clarity, or a way for users to instantly access search if they wish.

[bb1950328]

Idea: After the list of suggestions shows up, allow the user to select an entry with Arrow Up/Down keys and press enter to go to that page

[chipzoller]

That back-to-top button is pretty slick, @onweru so nice job.