7 ways to search for a camelCased parameter in your docs

Technical documentation contains word patterns like camelCase that give traditional search engines a headache. See how Algolia makes camelCase parameters searchable by 7 different types of queries. Given at API Days Paris 2016.

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1. December 13th, 2016 7 ways to search for a camelCased parameter in your docs Josh Dzielak // @dzello Developer Advocate @algolia APIDays Paris
2. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ipty10vd9c7u4jv/Screenshot%202016-12-13%2012.01.04.png?d l=0 DOCUMENTATION SEARCH Do your docs have a search? Search the docs... Get community.algolia.com/DocSearch, used by:
3. crossOriginLoading DOCUMENTATION SEARCH Example camelCase parameter from webpack
4. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH 7 common queries for this parameter 1. `crossOriginLoading` 2. `cross Origin Loading` 3. `Origin` 4. `OriginLoading` 5. `Origin cross` 6. `Origin Loading` 7. `OriginLoad` Note: all uppercase/lowercase characters are treated the same
5. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH camelCased Query #1 (original name) crossOriginLoading| OK! \o/ User remembered the name perfectly. No typos. User gets a CAMEL!
6. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH camelCased Query #2 (split name) cross Origin Loading| OK! \o/ Search engine concatenates query to match `crossOriginLoading` User keeps their CAMEL!
7. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH camelCased Query #3 (middle word only) Origin| NO RESULTS /o\ `Origin` does not match `crossOriginLoading`
8. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH Fix #1: Uncamelizing Split word into parts by capital letter `crossOriginLoading` => `cross Origin Loading` Caution: Don’t split “API” into “A P I”
9. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH camelCased Query #3 (middle word only) Origin| FIXED! \o/ `origin` is a 1-word match with `cross Origin Loading`
10. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH camelCased Query #4 (later words) Origin Loading| OK! \o/ `Origin Loading` is 2-word match of `cross Origin Loading`
11. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH camelCased Query #5 (words reversed) OK! \o/ `Origin cross` will 2-word match `cross Origin Loading` Origin cross|
12. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH camelCased Query #6 (later words) OriginLoading| MOSTLY OK! <O> `OriginLoading` is a 1-typo match for `Origin Loading` 1 typo: it will appear in results but potentially lower ranking.
13. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH Back to camelCased Query #1 crossOriginLoading| WAS BROKEN BY WORD SPLITTING /o\ Can no longer search by parameter name
14. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH Fix #2: Synonyms Add 1-way synonym from: `crossOriginLoading` to `cross Origin Loading`
15. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH Back to camelCased Query #1 crossOriginLoading| FIXED! \o/ Synonym matches `cross Origin Loading` Results show `crossOriginLoading` w/ no spaces, spaces are replaced by invisible unicode character \u2063
16. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH camelCased Query #7 (later term partial) OriginLoad| NO RESULTS /o\ `OriginLoad` will not match `Origin Loading`
17. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH Fix #3: More Synonyms Add 1-way synonym from: `OriginLoading` to `Origin Loading`
18. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH camelCased Query #7 (later term partial) OriginLoad| FIXED! \o/ `OriginLoad` will prefix-match synonym `OriginLoading` thereby becoming `Origin Loading` and a 2-word match of `cross Origin Loading`
19. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH Recap: 7 common camelCase queries 1. `crossOriginLoading` 2. `cross Origin Loading` 3. `Origin` 4. `OriginLoading` 5. `Origin cross` 6. `Origin Loading` 7. `OriginLoad`
20. DOCUMENTATION SEARCH See DocSearch in action on the upcoming webpack docs http://webpack.js.org
21. SPECIAL MENTION Help sustain open source! Visit opencollective.com webpack
22. Learn more @ blog.algolia.com
23. December 13th, 2016 Thanks! Josh Dzielak // @dzello Developer Advocate @algolia