SearchQuran.org

Assalamu Alaykum (May peace be upon you)

SearchQuran.org has been moved to new servers to improve performance and add new features. I have already added two more translations of the Quran: Muhammad Asad’s and Arthur John Arberry’s. Before this, we had eight, so this makes a total of ten translations. SearchQuran’s interface has also been updated so it is compatible with more browsers.

The list of improvements for the upcoming SearchQuran.org release has been finalized. It is based on the following key points, which are deemed to make SearchQuran.org most useful for the users:

• Continuously improving search capabilities to make searching more useful and easier.
• Improving user experience in every milestone by making appropriate changes to the user interface elements.
• Constant addition of content to help users conduct their search to satisfaction.
• Implementing mechanisms to solicit feedback from the users on an on-going basis, and using that feedback to make continued improvements.

In light of this philosophy, following features were finalized for the upcoming release (I call it Gamma, targetted to be released just before the Hajj 2006/2007).
Improvement in the search capabilities:

• Allow searching for words with less than 4 characters
• Allow exact phrase matches
• Introduce + and - operators with keywords
• Allow transliterated and Arabic keywords

Improvements in the user interface:

• Update the interface so users easily understand that translator selection is independent of the search, and enable update of the results page without users having to click the “Search” button
• Allow viewing of parallel translations

Content updates:

• Add 2 more translations. (This will make the total number of translations equal to 12)

Improvement in feedback mechanisms:

• Provide an easy mechanism to the users for notifications on unsatisfactory results or wanted features
• Development of a tool to analyze queries and query patterns of users, and update the search capability to ensure queries yield useful results

The blog has already been implemented. Work on the development of the remaining features is underway.

The first official release (after the gamma release) of SearchQuran.org is scheduled on 28 Feb 2007. A preliminary feature list has already been drafted for that release. I will post out that list as we ship for the Gamma release as some of the items may need to be adjusted based on feedback.

Thank you!