Screen: ShopSite > Preferences > Search Settings > Layout

Search Layout Settings

Use the options under this screen to configure the layout of the product search function.

Search Layout

Use the fields on this screen to configure the presentation of search results.

Name Toggle
Check this box to display the Page Name on the Search Results page.
Graphic Toggle
Check this box to display the page graphic on the Search Results page.
Search Template
Select the search template you want to use to format the search results page
Link Template Override
Check the override box to force all page links on the search results page to use the override template instead of the template associated with the page. This helps keep the search results page consistent without interfering with your ability to customize page appearance.
Product Template Override
Check the override box to force all products listed on the search results page to use the override template instead of the template associated with the product. You can use this to present a consistent and more consise report on the search results pages without affecting the look of your product pages.
Item Alignment
Indicate how you want the products aligned on the search results pages.
Columns
Indicate how many columns to display search results in.
Column Borders
Check this box to show borders around the search results.
Page Width
Indicate how wide the search results should be in the browser window.
Page Header
Check this box to display the store Page Header (configured in Preferences > Page Header & Footer).
Page Footer
Check this box to display the store Page Footer (configured in Preferences > Page Header & Footer).
Text Color
This sets the default display of nonlink text to the color you choose. Be sure to choose a dark color (black is usually best) unless your background is dark, so the text on your site is easy to read.
Background Color
The entire background of the search results page will be displayed in the color you choose here, unless you select a Background Image, in which case the pattern will appear instead of the color. Be sure to choose a light color for the background, unless you have selected a very light color for your text.
Link Color
Unvisited links to other pages and sites will appear in the color you select here.
Visited Link Color
After a customer has clicked on a link and visited the page, the color of the link will change to the color you select here, to let customers keep track of where they've been.
Active Link Color
The color selected here will only be visible at the exact moment someone is clicking on the link. Adding a bright color here adds pizzazz.
If you have uploaded an image of a textured background to your media directory, you can use that image as a background for your site. Be careful, though, as the image will tile, meaning that it will appear multiple times as a repeating pattern, so it's a good idea to use images that were designed specifically for backgrounds. Either select an image from your media directory using the drop-down list, or type in the path and file name of an image file.
Product Search Field
Specify where the product search field should appear on a page.
Results per page
Set the number of search results per page. For example, if a search returns 100 results, and the Results per Page field is set to 10, the customer will have access to all 100 results, but will only be able to view 10 at a time on each page.
strip HTML tags from the product description
Product descriptions accompany every product listed on a search results page. This setting allows you to remove all HTML tags from those descriptions. This means, for example, that a word that is italicized in a product description will appear as normal text in the search result page. Checking this box will result in a more uniform looking search result.
Maximum number of characters displayed for the product description
Product descriptions accompany every product listed on a search results page. This setting allows you to limit the length of the description, so that the overall search results page does not become exceedingly long.
Quantity Pricing Flag
Set the HTML and text that will be used on the search results screen to indicate that a product has quantity pricing.
Quantity Pricing Message
Set the footnote text that will be used on the search results screen for quantity pricing.
Variable Price Flag
Set the HTML and text that will be used on the search results screen to indicate that a product has variable pricing.
Variable Price Message
Set the footnote text that will be used on the search results screen for variable pricing.
Advanced Search
Select whether all Search boxes have an Advanced Search option, or only those on Search Results pages, or none.
Search Terms Are
Use this field to enable automatic wildcard searching. By default, wildcard searching is turned off, which returns results faster but requires that the search words exactly match words in your store. The Auto new search checkbox gives you the best of both worlds by first doing a whole word search and then doing a wildcard search if there are no matches. You can enable wildcards ("stems") by default, and you can select whether to assume wildcards at the beginning of words, at the end of words, or both. Note that customers can always type in asterisks to do wildcard searches, regardless of the settings here.
Display Advanced Search Field
Check this box to let customers enable and disable Advanced Search.
Default Advanced Search Field To
Set this field to Advanced to have searches normally performed with Advanced functions. The Advanced search includes all Basic search functions.
Text for Advanced Search Field
If you checked Display Advanced Search Field, Enter the text here that you want to appear next to the checkbox that customers use to run an advanced search.
Text for Help Link
Customers can click on a link on the search form to learn about advanced searches. Enter the text here that you want to appear as that link.
Help URL
ShopSite has a default help page that customers will see when the click the Help link for advanced searches. If you want to display a different help page, enter the URL for that page here.
Advanced Search Form Color
Select a background color for the Search field.

ShopSite Help and Resource Center
Last updated: September 1, 2004
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