Creating a Search Form

Creating a Search Form

If your website contains a lot of information and/or numerous pages, you may want to create a Search Form to assist users in finding specific information. When key words are typed into a Search Form, FrontPage searches the website for matches and returns a list of pages containing the key words.

To create a Search Form, start by selecting a new page and setting the Page Properties. Type any information you would like to have appear on the page, before you insert the search form. Click Insert, Web Component, Web Search, Current Web, and then click Finish. A Search Form Properties box will appear. Set the Width in Characters and click OK. If you choose to change the Label for input, you can but most people use the default label.

If you want to only search a specific directory, click on the Search Results tab, select Directory, click on Browse and specify the directory. You can also set the Set the Maximum records per page and the Maximum records per query, or add any other additional information you want displayed. Select OK when you are finished.

Save your page and then preview it by selecting File, Preview in Browser, Browser Type, and Preview. Remember, you must be on the "Live" site to set up a Web Component Search Form.

Insert web component dialog box.

Search form properties dialog box.

Search results properties box.

The search form below is an excellent example of how to create a search form. It begins with an introduction and explanation of how to use the search form. It contains a link to additional key words, applicable to their site, gives examples of how to search for key words and/or phrases, thus making the search form most useful, and enables the user to move quickly to pages containing specific information they are seeking.