Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers blog

Following our changes to the Search experience on Answers last week we received a lot of feedback from you, the community, around the changes we had made.

Advanced search changes

We’ve reacted to your feedback to make changes that now allow you to add parameters to the URL, which will enable you to sort the search results to your preference.  In order to do this, here are the parameters you would need to add:

&orderby=+date (to sort by most recent)

&orderby=-date (to sort by oldest)

For example a search for `dogs` gives this URL: http://answers.yahoo.com/search/search_result?p=dogs

If you want to sort search results by the most recent, simply add `&orderby=+date` to the end of the URL:  http://answers.yahoo.com/search/search_result?p=dogs&orderby=+date

We will look to add these filters within the page itself over the coming months.

In addition, we have noticed that search terms within quotation marks (“ and “) were returning no results.  A few code tweaks later and hey presto – results have now returned! J

Further changes

Last but not least, we’ve also taken this opportunity to fix some other bugs on the site:

-          For Internet Explorer users we’ve fixed the layout issue on the Ask/Answer/Discover banner.

-          We have also made changes to content deletion.  Previously, when you deleted your question or answer, it was still showing in the public view of your profile page.  From now on when you delete a question or answer, it will be entirely removed from your public profile page

Keep the feedback coming!

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

As a part of the recent changes to Yahoo! Answers, we will also be rolling out a few changes to the search experience over the next few days.

We’ve taken the feedback you’ve provided and have incorporated your comments to improve the current search experience.  Through the new search experience, you’ll notice a new, re-designed layout on your search results page, making it easier to refine your search without having to leave the page.

New Search Results Page

1- We’ve taken all of the options which were previously available in Advanced Search and moved them to the left-hand-side of this page to make it easier to customize your search queries.

2 – The category dropdown has been re-structured to fit this new design.

3- For those of you who perform the same search regularly, we’ve also thought of you: we’ve replaced the `Make this my default search option` with the `My Saved Search` feature.  `My Saved Search` allows you to save your favourite search so you can easily access the results from anywhere on Yahoo! Answers.  By checking this box Answers will store your most frequent searches.  You can then click on the `My Saved Search` link next to the `Search Answers` button to access your saved search from wherever you are on the site.

You can find out more about making the most of `My Saved Search` by checking out this help article

As with all of the changes we’re making at the moment we’d love to hear your feedback.  Leave us a comment here on the blog or on the feedback thread on the Suggestion Board.

—Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers Team

Answers is a site for its contributors by its contributors so it’s with great pleasure that we are able to announce that your amazing questions and answers have won an award.

This week Hitwise announced that uk.answers.yahoo.com is a Hitwise Number 1 Award winner for the period July – December 2009. Uk.answers.yahoo.com ranked No. 1 based on market share of visits among all United Kingdom websites in the Hitwise Education – Reference industry.

The Hitwise Number 1 Award recognises websites from over 165 industries that are leaders in their industry and brings and awards them with the Hitwise Number 1 Award shield. Twice a year Hitwise awards the 10 most popular websites across each of 160+ categories. Winners are notified at the close of the January-June and July-December periods.

So we think you should all give yourselves a big pat on the back, since this is the second time in recent years that you’ve won this award . Thanks so much and keep up the good work: Answers would not be what it is – award winning – without you!

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

The next time you log into Yahoo! Answers you may notice things look a little bit different. We’re rolling out a new homepage and navigation over the next few days. Don’t worry: if you don’t see the new changes just yet, you will soon.

We’ve made quite a few changes to the homepage, so to make navigation a bit easier, we’ve broken things down for you by section, so let’s get started.

1- New Navigation

You may have noticed that atop the Answers banner, there are four new, navigation tabs: Home, Browse Categories, My Activity, and About. Each of these tabs (as well as the green Answers banner) will stay with you throughout your experience on the site, making it easier for you to get to the places on Answers you care about most.

Home: This brings you back to the main page of Answers, where you can see the Best of Answers rotating module, the link to the Answers Blog (which is now on the right hand side, as well as the most recent questions posted on the site.

Browse categories: more about this below

My activity: From here, you can go directly to your Answers profile, view your network, your network activity, and even edit your preferences.

About: Learn all about Answers, revisit the Community Guidelines, check out the leaderboard, Suggestion Board,  and visit the Answers Blog.

2 – Browsing categories

On the old Answers homepage all of the categories were permanently displayed on the left hand column, hogging up homepage space that could have been used for valuable questions. We’ve decided to tuck the categories away under the top hide-away menu where you can easily access them any time, or, if you want to view them all at once, just click on the browse category tab to be taken to the “All Categories” page. From here, you’ll be able to peruse all of the questions that are: open, resolved or in voting on the site.

3- An updated look and feel

Over the past few years we’ve heard from quite a few of you that you love the Answers green but it’s just a little too green. So we’ve taken your feedback to heart and have toned down the green just a bit and have replaced the white background with a light blue that is a little easier on the eyes. Our smilies (4) have also received a facelift and look a bit more polished throughout the site.

Additionally, you’ll notice that the page feels a bit wider—one thing we heard from you when we introduced the new category pages several months back was that you liked the extra space. This extra space allows us to display even more questions on the homepage, making it easier for you to jump right in.

But wait, there’s more!

This release doesn’t just include cosmetic changes—we also included quite a few backend bug fixes, as well as a few feature requests, like updating the category leaderboards much more regularly. Starting today, category leaderboards will update on a daily basis instead of weekly. Please note they will NOT be real-time, but will update at the end of each day (10pm GMT).

Tell us what you think

Once you’ve given the new homepage a test drive, tell us what you think! We’ve started two threads on the Suggestion Board for the new homepage—one for questions and one for comments – and we’ll be checking them regularly.  Additionally, you’re always welcome to use the “Tell us what you think” link found at the bottom of every Yahoo! Answers page.  You’re also welcome to leave your comments here, on the blog.

Thanks, and we hope you like it!

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

– What question would you like us to ask Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats?

We’re in a General Election year, with pundits predicting a close-run contest – one that could see the Liberal Democrats turn king-makers in a hung parliament. On March 16th Yahoo! has a 30 minute interview with their leader Nick Clegg and we want to know: what are the questions you’d like answering? The Best Answer and other strong answers from you guys will be put to Clegg in the interview.

It’s an exciting prospect for all UK Answers users: the chance to put to one of the UK’s political leaders a hand-crafted, searching question. It’s doubly exciting given how a change in government for the first time in 13 years could usher in a new era for Britain. So get your thinking cap on and try and come up with the most insightful question you can. The higher the quality question the more likely it will be your words Mr Clegg is having to answer!

– Yahoo! Answers team