All entries belonging to the category »MTLookup« are shown. You can read a short summary. A link pointing to the full text is given.

Modern databases, such as the MySQL Server, have internal fulltext capabilities. So why not combine the two worlds, and make Movable Type search with the help of MySQL's fulltext search?

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mgs | 06/21/2005 | Permalink | Comments (7)

Some days ago I described a way for being able to offer a fast fulltext search with the help of the MySQL database. Today I will go one step further: leave my own Movable Type Weblog behind, and include several Movable Type resource weblogs into the result lists.

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mgs | 06/29/2005 | Permalink | Comments (5)

Several users of MTLookup reported that sometimes the result lists' sort order seemed to be strange. Important entries were on position 10, and not so important entries reached top positions.

I analyzed the situation and compared the result lists that were generated by MTLookup with those that were created by Google and Yahoo. Some important facts could be found.

What is most important, the MTLookup ranking could be improved. Now it works consistent - no matter whether the keyphrase contains short or long words, or it contains words that appear often or seldom it the database.

I could even find some situations, where Google and Yahoo produced not so perfect result lists. It was very interesting to find out, why this happens.

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mgs | 07/04/2005 | Permalink | Comments (1)

When I started to work with fulltext search in Movable Type, I enhanced my Movable Type Weblog with a native MySQL fulltext search engine. Later I created a new website called MTLookup, which could be used for searching several websites at the same time.

After MTLookup was released, the search within the Movable Type Weblog was still based on the initial release: no Google-like keyphrase, only my weblog being indexed, some of the most recent articles not included at all.

Starting today, the search within the Movable Type Weblog will be powered by MTLookup, making all the enhancements of MTLookup available within the Movable Type Weblog.

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mgs | 07/06/2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

After having released MTLookup, I received a lot of suggestions about which websites to include in future versions. There was one suggestion that almost anybody mentioned: the Movable Type User Manual.

My initial plan was to keep the database stable in July and extend it next month together with the new version of MTLookup. I ignored this plan, and made the MTLookupBot read parts of the Six Apart hompeage. As a result, the User Manual and some other documents are now included in the index.

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mgs | 07/12/2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am currently working on a new version of MTLookup, offering lots of new features. In a previous article, I wrote that it will probably be released in August. That schedule is still valid.

One improvement will be an extended database. More websites will be indexed, more articles will be included. For this, I described how to get indexed by MTLookup.

There are two ways for making your articles be included in MTLookup.

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mgs | 08/04/2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today a new version of MTLookup, the search engine for Movable Type related information, has been released. Several new features have been implemented.

In a couple of days, I will describe all improvements in detail. Here is a summary of the most important changes.

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mgs | 09/11/2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some days ago, a new version of MTLookup was released. Please read Second version of MTLookup released for the announcement.

I will describe the new features in several posts, which will be published here in the Movable Type Weblog. Today, I want to inform you about how websites are indexed and show how new websites can be included into MTLookup.

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mgs | 09/14/2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some days ago, a new version of MTLookup was released. Please read Second version of MTLookup released for the announcement.

I will describe the new features in several posts, which will be published here in the Movable Type Weblog. Today, I want to tell you about stemming and how MTLookup benefits from this.

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mgs | 09/15/2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some days ago, a new version of MTLookup was released. Please read Second version of MTLookup released for the announcement. I will describe the new features in several posts, which will be published here in the Movable Type Weblog.

Today, I want to tell you about persistent user data.

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mgs | 09/19/2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some days ago, a new version of MTLookup was released. Please read Second version of MTLookup released for the announcement. I will describe the new features in several posts, which will be published here in the Movable Type Weblog.

Today, I want to tell you about query feedback.

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mgs | 09/22/2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some days ago, a new version of MTLookup was released. Please read Second version of MTLookup released for the announcement. I will describe the new features in several posts, which will be published here in the Movable Type Weblog.

Today, I want to tell you about several small improvements.

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mgs | 09/23/2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

After the second version of MTLookup has been released some days ago, more websites have been added to the database. These are: Murky, alogblog, David Raynes, Brad Choate, Don't Back Down, and Everitz Consulting.

Welcome on board.

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mgs | 09/24/2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Once in a while, my own programs analyze MTLookup's search logs. They find out, which keywords have been used most often. They also look for search phrases, which resulted in long result lists - trying to find those queries whose result lists are so long that it was difficult for you to find what you were looking for.

Today, I started with integrating a new feature into MTLookup: giving hints to the user, how a search query might be improved and better results be found.

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mgs | 10/02/2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some hours ago, Six Apart announced that the Movable Type User Manual had been improved and extended. As MTLookup allows including the User Manual in search queries, I refreshed the MTLookup database immediately.

Both the Movable Type User Manual and the Movable Type Knowledge Base have been spidered completely. The information about these two websites has been updated in the MTLookup database.

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mgs | 10/05/2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

A user told me about a query that did not return the expected result list. He was simply searching for the three letters »3.2« (three dot two). This should return a long list of hits. However, the result list was empty. So I had to enhance the algorithm a little bit.

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mgs | 10/30/2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am currently designing the next version of MTLookup. There will be several enhancements to the user interface. I estimate that the new version will be ready in January 2006.

With the next version, MTLookup will be able to index the content from the well-known Movable Type Support Forum. So within one result list, you will be able to find tutorials and support questions.

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mgs | 11/30/2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mark from murky.org has created a plugin for the Firefox browser. It allows users to search MTLookup from within the browser toolbar. You can find the needed information on Mark's website on One more Firefox Plugin.

Thank's a lot Mark! This is a very useful extension.

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mgs | 12/05/2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)