SMF Theme Site
Introduction
Searching on the theme site has been enhanced to allow for easier searching while getting more precise results. While similar in some respects to other search engines, the theme site search engine operates on some key differences. This document is designed to help you understand how you can search this site, and hopefully get the best results.
Searchable Fields
The following table lists all the fields you can use during your search.
| Field name: | desc: | Acceptable Values: | Examples: |
| name | The name of the theme you are searching for. | A string of alphanumeric characters. If multiple words are used they should be enclosed in double quotes ("). Partial names are ok. | name:SomeTheme name:"Some Theme" |
| desc | Searches the description of the theme for the specified string. | A string of alphanumeric characters. If multiple words are used they should be enclosed in double quotes ("). | desc:Multi desc:"Multi Colored" |
| author | Searches for themes written by the specified member. | Either the id or name of the author. | author:1 author:SomeAuthor author:"Some Author" |
| type | Searches for themes of the specified type. Ranges acceptable. | The type's number or name | type:1 type:Minimal |
| style | Searches for themes of the specified color styling. Ranges acceptable. | The style's number or name | style:1 style:Dark |
| version | Searches for themes that are supported by the specified versions of SMF. Ranges acceptable. | The version's number or name | version: 1.1 version:1.1.6 version:"2 beta 4" |
| rating | Searches for themes with the specified user rating. Ranges acceptable. | Integers | rating:0- rating:5 |
| download | Searches for themes with the specified number of downloads. Ranges acceptable. | Integers | downloads:0-50 downloads:200 |
| columns | Searches for themes with the specified number of columns in the layout. Ranges acceptable. | Integers | columns:1 columns:0-3 |
Numeric Ranges
As you no doubt notice, some of the fields say that ranges are acceptable. To use a range simply use the - character to denote a range. The first number should be the minimum, and the second number should be the maximum. If no minimum is desired or known use 0. If no maximum is desired, or known, just leave it blank. Some examples of acceptable inputs are:
- type:0- will give all types
- type:5-8 will give all types from 5 to 8 inclusively
- type:9-5 will give all types with an id greater then 9 and less then 5 (which means none would be found)
Binding between search terms
The theme site search engine works off an implicit OR binding between search terms. This means that a search string of "type:1 author=SomeAuthor" would return all themes that were of type 1 or written by SomeAuthor.
Refining the search
Often times, you'll want to refine your search so you get the exact results you were looking for. To do this you can use + before a search term to require themes to match that term. For example, "type:1 +author=SomeAuthor would return all themes written by SomeAuthor that were type 1. No other author would be found.
Conversely, you can use - before a search term to require themes to not match that term. For example, "type:1 -author:SomeAuthor" would return all type 1 themes that were not written by SomeAuthor.
Ordering your search
By default, the theme site search engine orders the themes by placing the new themes at the beginning and then alphabetical by theme name. However, you can change this by using the limit: search term. You can use order in conjunction with any of the above search terms. Additionally, you can use "submit" to order by the time the theme was submitted and "modify" to order by the time of the last change to the theme. You can change the direction of the order by adding ",desc" or ",asc" to order descending or ascending respectfully. Examples: order:rating,desc order:submit order:desc,asc
Specifying how many themes to return
By default, 10 themes will be displayed on one page. However, you can change this by using the limit: search term. You may specify from 1 to 20 (inclusive) as the number of themes to display. Once you have specified the result size, that size will be used for the remainder of your session, or until you specify a new size. However, it won't carry across sessions. Examples: limit:10 limit:17