There’s a new and improved Lijit WordPress plugin available for download. This version is one that my company, Crowd Favorite, had the pleasure of helping build.
The new plugin makes it easy for you to enable Lijit search from the default WordPress search box, or you can add in the full Lijit widget wijit if you like.
I use Lijit search on alexking.info, where I aggregate content from all of the various sites and services I publish content on. The Lijit search performs a search across all of that content - pretty slick.
I’m pretty pleased with the overall user experience for the plugin. It nicely handles set-up for new or existing users, gives straightforward options and instructions, and even brings in your Lijit search stats with a new link on the WordPress admin dashboard.
Many thanks to the great folks we were able to work with at Lijit in building the new plugin. It was a pleasure working with people that care deeply about their users and are also technically astute.
Popularity: 20% [?]
Jeffro2pt0 adds this Comment:
I’ve seen blog after blog after blog using Ligit as there search replacement. Is Lijit supposed to be used as a replacement for the WordPress built in search function or does Lijit have a specific purpose other than searching the blog?
August 20th, 2008 at 2:32 am
Hussein | Random Blog adds this Comment:
I have seen it also in some blogs. This is a nice plugin but I don’t want to replace my Google Adsense search box
August 20th, 2008 at 2:56 am
Plugin Wordpress pour le moteur de recherche Lijit : Le Journal du Blog adds this Pingback:
[…] C’est le cas du moteur de recherche évolué Lijit qui s’est associé avec l’une des références en matière de plugin wordpress : AlexKink. […]
August 20th, 2008 at 5:30 am
Alex adds this Comment:
Jeffro - Lijit’s search uses relevance to determine the order that the results are returned in generally considered better than the default WordPress search (which searches using keywords and returns results in “blog” order). There are also nice reports telling you what people search your site for, etc.
Also, as I noted in my post, you can have your Lijit search results bring back content from your other online accounts like Twitter, Flickr, etc.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:03 am
countzeero adds this Comment:
After reading this post I went and signed up at Lijit… IMHO every blogger needs to get Lijit! I haven´t got round to installing the plug-in mentioned in your post but as soon as I do I will be back with my impressions… btw nice blog Alex =)
August 20th, 2008 at 8:01 am
Mr Papa adds this Comment:
tried registering from within the plugin itself, but it kept returning the form itself again… finally went to lijit and site was down for maintenance… might be nice to return some sort of error message rather than simply returning the original form when it fails or has issues…
August 21st, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Mr Papa adds this Comment:
working great now and liking it! don’t know if you are still working with them or not, but one nice added feature would be have the best of both worlds.
The plugin asks you to select from using the widget or the default wordpress searchfrom but having it act like wijit. Why not allow both?
I would like to have a simple search form in the sidebar or header area, but then have a search page that has all the other lijit features displayed. I have also chose to use the js instead of the actual widget to minimize real estate. Of course, it renders the lijit stuff the same in both places because its common code.
A way to have a simple searchform in the sidebar/header but have the expanded lijit search with all the options on a page would be great.
Any thoughts on how this would be done?
August 24th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Mr Papa adds this Comment:
ah, just found the api on their help page… so I can customize it just fine now, but would still lose upgrade ability… would still be nice to have built in…
August 24th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Alex adds this Comment:
I remember discussing this option, but don’t think it made the cut. I’ll pass this back to Lijit for consideration.
August 25th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Daniel adds this Comment:
Thanks for the feedback Mr Papa. We are investigating these options, and will definitely consider them for the next revision of the plugin.
-Daniel at Lijit
August 25th, 2008 at 9:14 am
dan | personal development adds this Comment:
This is a great idea - I’m not sure quite how I’ve not seen this before! I’m presuming this can help people find your content that you write on article directories and squidoo/hubpages etc? I’ll go and check it out now.
Cheers, Dan
August 29th, 2008 at 1:58 am