Story: search
This page is for journalists and reviewers who write about how people find content in Exponential: visitors on a site, editors in the administration, and administrators chasing an id from a log file. It gives the story, the facts with sources and the claims to leave out.
Contents
- The story in one paragraph
- What is new, and when
- Facts you can print
- What not to claim
- Angles and headline ideas
- Who to ask
- Related pages
The story in one paragraph
Exponential has a "Built in search engine" (README, Main Exponential features) and needs no search server: "Exponential searches with its built-in index ... until Solr is installed and switched on" (Server control commands). The 6.0.15 line added the content finder, which finds the content behind an id, a URL alias, a page address or a file path, and hardened the administration's search so that malformed or very long queries no longer break it (6.0.15 changelog). The help system has its own instant search.
What is new, and when
All in the 6.0.15 line, the current release line of Exponential 6.0; the dates are dates of the changes, not a release date.
| What | When | Source |
|---|---|---|
exp:solr, a command for an optional Solr server | 16 to 30 September 2026 | 6.0.15 changelog |
| The content finder | 10 October 2026 | 6.0.15 changelog |
| The content finder by the address a visitor sees, on every database engine | 11 October 2026 | 6.0.15 changelog |
| The search of the administration hardened | 14 October 2026 | 6.0.15 changelog |
| The help system with instant search | 18 October 2026 | 6.0.15 changelog |
Facts you can print
| Fact | Source |
|---|---|
| Solr is optional; without it the built-in index is used. | Server control commands |
Editors press / anywhere in the administration to jump to the search field. | Searching, The quick search |
| Visitors find only published, visible items they may read. | Searching, Searching the site |
| The content finder finds an object from an object, node, attribute or version id, a remote id, a URL alias, a page URL or a file path. | The content finder, In short |
| A search text is cut to 16 words and 1024 characters by default, with a note on the page. | 6.0.15 changelog |
| The help's search shows matching pages as you type, with audience and topic filters. | Searching, The help pages |
What not to claim
- "Exponential includes Solr." Solr is an optional, separate search server.
- "Search finds everything instantly." The help page says new items are "usually found within moments; on some sites the search index is updated in the background and takes a few minutes".
- "AI search" or "semantic search": the sources describe neither.
Angles and headline ideas
"No search server required: Exponential's built-in index"
"From a number in a log file to the page behind it: the content finder"
"Why a CMS limits your search to 16 words - and tells you so"Who to ask
| Question | Ask | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Search design and Solr | 7x | [email protected], or https://exponential.earth/about/contact-us |
| Search on real sites | the community | https://share.exponential.earth/forums |
Related pages
- Searching
- Story: the help system
- Story: operations tools for administrators
- Feature stories: index
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
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