Alphabetize list of forums?

On the "Advanced search" page for SEARCH FORUMS, the list of forums seems to be in no particular order. Could it be alphabetized?

TIA
LAS

I've been wishing for the ability to alphabetize my favorite forums list for a while!!

The list is actually in order of new postings... the forum with the most recent new post to it is on top. I don't find this helpful, especially since if the recent post is in one of my watched threads... I can read the new post, go back to my home page, and the order of the forums will still be the same even though that post is no longer "new" to me.

I would love the option to organize the forum list differently. With all the new forums that have been added in the past couple of years, my list of watched forums keeps growing, and it's hard to find the one I want to click on when their positions keep changing.

I hope you'll consider this improvement to the site. Thanks!

Critter, I think LAS is referring to her ability to use "Advanced Search" under the "Search Forums" page, not what we can do to our home pages (although I agree with you there). If you go to "Search Forums" and then to "Advanced Search," the menu option on the right lists the forums in no particular order and you have to scroll S-L-O-W-L-Y through them to find the one you want. It would be much easier if (1) the list was in alpha order and (2) it was a long drop-down list like most search engines provide.

You're right -- I totally mis-read that! I'm not sure how, as she was very clear. I guess wanting the forums alphabetized on my home page is right at the top of my head! LOL

With the advanced search list, if you start typing in the name of the forum you want, it'll jump right to it. For most forums, that's just 2 or 3 letters. (alphabetical would still be better!)

Select the forum after you choose the rest of your search parameters, though. If you change something else (like only seeing results posted by a specific person), your forum choice defaults to "any," and you have to select again.

I know what you mean. I want that too, but have asked to no avail.

Where do you start typing the name of the forum? I just took a look at the Advanced Search menu options and can't see one which does what you said. Just as a test I typed "babiana" in the "Search forums for" box and "bulbs" in the "Search Forums" menu bar, but all that did is bring up all threads that had the word "bulbs" in them.

If you click to put your cursor in the box that has the list of forums and then start typing the name, it will jump down to highlight the forum you want.

Thanks! I got it to work. It's certainly not intuitive though, is it? Any good search engine should be.

The completion feature is nice to know about, but it doesn't help if you're not sure of the forum's name.

If you aren't sure of a forum's name, the categories of forums on this page: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/ may be helpful, since you can look at those groups and get an idea of where the forum you're looking for might be.

Terry, yes, that's possible, but it would be quicker to skim through an alphabetized list right on the window you're using, instead of going to another window, where I, being 66, would have to write down any potential names.

It just seems inexcusable to have a long list that isn'torganized in some obvious way. Why can't they alphabetize it?

I'm quite aware of that list, Terry, but why should I have to go there first and THEN go to "Search forums"? No other search engine requires this.

I'm old and feeble too (LOL LAS!!) and also cannot see why that list can't be alphabetized. Better yet, we should be able to search it.

I must say I hesitated about saying "inexcusable" in reference to the absolutely best designed website anywhere! Dave's Garden is just wonderful.

So it is so weird that this fundamental glitch remains....

We organized it many years ago into the groups you see. It was meant to be a logical way to organize the forums, since alphabetical would leave "Clematis" squeezed in between "Clean and Clutter Free" and "Computer Talk" ;o)

faeden, you don't need to go to that page to search the forums, but you do have to be either there OR in a specific forum to search the forums, just like you have to be in PlantFiles to search for a plant, the Watchdog to search for companies in it, etc.

We have a site-wide search (it seaches *most* of the site anyway) from your home page.

Yes, I know all of those things. It doesn't mean I necessarily like the way they work.