Custom Meta Fields Unforgiving?

[SHEIT]

Using the custom meta fields are great. Sort of.

When using the CMF for a set value, they can be great. That is if used when the value
will always be the same and a dropdown or multiple select is used on the search page.

But when you add in a text input box. And variables that vary. I consider using them a bad idea. That will leave visitors with the assumption. What the were searching for was not on on your sire.

Even if a "Partial Substring match" is chosen for the text field while setting up the CMF.
Results will not show up when any variant of the field is implemented.

Explanation.

Your site sells books. Your CMF is names Book. and the "contents" consist of the index generated by zoom for that CMF.
Example represent 4 pages from the site.
<meta name="Books" content="C++">
<meta name="Books" content=" Java apps">
<meta name="Books" content="css and you">
<meta name="Books" content=" Php why ">

Above values have single spacing.

Some one searches using a text input box for the CMF named Books.
Query 1- 4 * represents a space and is not inputed in the search.

C*++
Java-apps
Css*and**you
Php**why

Absolutely zero books would be found.

Thanks to the space. As far as I can tell a "space" is all it takes to cause "no results found". I am sure there are more things then a space that will confuse zoom.



If I am wrong please let me know.

Nick

[Ray]

Your description is accurate. It is true that the Partial Text match setting for Custom Meta Fields has room for improvement.

When we introduced the Custom Meta Fields option, we were not sure how popular it would be, or if it would be accepted at all by our users. There are some necessary setup intricacies and we were worried that people would largely ignore the feature. So we focused on the core functionality (and making it as simple and straight-forward to comprehend as possible) more than the "would be nice" details.

Having said that, we are currently working on V7 and judging by user feedback, the introduction of the Custom Meta Fields feature has been successful. We will certainly add this issue to our list of things to consider for V7.

We would love to hear from other users of Custom Meta Fields ... please let us know what you would like to see in the new version, or if you have come across any other shortcomings in your real-life situations.

[David]

I think it is also worth noting that the examples given aren't all that common and won't be encounted by typical users. Anyone searching for C++ knows that there shouldn't be a space in the term. And searching for double spaces, mid phrase, is also fairly rare.