Forum

I'm positive I'm not the first person to suggest this.

Make it easier to search my recipes by adding a giant magifying glass icon on the home page.

Put the magnifying glass to the right of the "Library" icon. 

After clicking on it, a field should appear. After the user types "asafoetida" all recipes in the user's library with that ingredient are displayed.

It has been suggested but I'll tell you a few negatives and maybe other members could weigh in with their opinions.

1. You assume that the default search for members is searching for recipes on their own Bookshelf. But many casual visitors and new members will actually be searching for books in the Library. If someone who isn't yet a member clicks the magnifying glass they will be very confused because they do not yet have a Bookshelf. And a new member will be confused because the Bookshelf will be empty and they want to search for books to add to it.

2. The search box will just be the word search which loses out on many features of search provided on the Bookshelf Recipes page - filters (which give much more precise results), bookmarks, books/magazines/online/video/Preview filters.

3. Your Bookshelf Recipes search is only one click away anyway - hover over My Bookshelf tab at the top then click Recipes and you are where you will be by one click on the magnifying glass. So in terms of time and effort, what we have is not really different.

I'm as likely to want to search for something in the library (maybe to see whether I really want to order a book or to get inspiration in the online recipes) as I am to search my own bookshelf, so I agree with Jane that a search field on the home page just for My Bookshelf could be confusing. 

This discussion reminds me of the early days of the web, when AOL, Yahoo, and other companies obscured their search function in order to highlight advertising and their own paid services. Then along came Google: here's a big box, no ads, just type something in. Do you honestly think your paid subscribers are more interested "Kindle Cookbook Deals" and an obiturary than in search?

For me personally, I'm happy with the searches as they are presently. As Jane mentioned, the front page is only 1 click away from a search of the almost 2 million recipes currently indexed. Sometimes I do that search; other times I search only my own current recipes, and again that's also only 1 click away. I almost always apply some filters too, and I love having that option. 

boberonicus - it's not a question of obscuring search, but that we have a lot of search functions on the site and we cannot presume that every member wants the same search. There is Library Books, Magazines, Blogs, Recipes and Online Recipes plus all the filters for Book recipes, Magazine Recipes, Video recipes, etc. Then also Bookshelf Books, Magazines, Blogs, Recipes (which has all the same filters mentioned plus Personal Recipes, Bookmarks, etc). So even not counting filters, that is 9 different searches that could not all link from one Home Page search box. Google has just one search of the web - enter the words and it looks at where those words appear. So a simple one search box works for them. For us having drop down menus under the tabs at top and then one click takes you exactly where you want to search.

I'm also very happy with the current set up of EYB....from the home page I can easily search several things re: my bookshelf as one option or search the whole library as a second option.....both "drop down menus" are simply one click away.  I also ALWAYS spend time on the home page anyways to check out new blog posts (inlcuding reading member comments) and new forum topics EVERY time I sign in.  

I've bookmarked the page I need, so it's not a big deal. I no longer need to view obituaries and Kindle book deals. 

> Google has just one search of the web

No. But your perspective underscores how they've simplified our worldview through search. You know that you can find a video about making sauerkraut, a sauerkraut recipe, the history of sauerkraut, or a jar of it with a single search.  

Incidentally, front page search (of cookbooks) on EYB was a good idea 10 years ago:

https://web.archive.org/...://www.eatyourbooks.com/

boberonicus - the page you dug out from the web archive was our first landing page after we launched in 2009 for people coming to www.eatyourbooks.com who were not signed in - generally first time visitors. We assumed most of those would want to review the Library Books page. We changed the page soon after but made the default page for anyone joining EYB to be Library Books. The search for anyone signed in to the site has always been separated into Library (160,000+ cookbooks, 4,300+ Magazines, 79 blogs/websites/newspaper columns) and Bookshelf (your own collection within those subsets).

Of course any member can choose what they want to see and ignore on the site. We are certainly not suggesting you need to view and read anything on the Home Page in order to get to your Bookshelf - that is the beauty of bookmarks. Many members enjoy reading cookbook and food news and other members' notes on recipes but you are obviously not one of them.

Originally Posted by: boberonicus

This discussion reminds me of the early days of the web, when AOL, Yahoo, and other companies obscured their search function in order to highlight advertising and their own paid services. Then along came Google: here's a big box, no ads, just type something in. Do you honestly think your paid subscribers are more interested "Kindle Cookbook Deals" and an obiturary than in search?

As a paid subscriber for many years I can say I am happy with the home page and how it has evolved over time.  Many members use this website for more than 'just' searching our books for recipes (although I regularly use the search functions too), not least for looking at what has been posted on the forum recently and reading the latest recipe notes or blog entries.  I use EYB for inspiration not just for an index.