There are a number of different types of search that you can use, either on their own or in combination, to narrow down and focus your results.
By selecting, from the home page, one of twelve subject categories you can browse all the entries in that category.
Just typing in a few words into the search box brings back all entries that contain at least one of the words you have entered. You can also use special characters to limit your results. The plus sign (+) before a word means that each of the results must contain that word, so the example search below brings back all results containing both of the words housing and advice.
+housing +advice
Using double quotes (") around your search words brings back only results that contain those words as an exact phrase, for example:
"badminton club"
The search will also find related versions of the same word. For example, cycling should also return results for cycle and cycled too.
Entering a place name in the box marked 'In location or postcode' will bring back results of services based in and around that location.
Entering a full postcode in the box marked 'In location or postcode' will bring back results in order of closeness to that postcode. This is really useful for finding services located close to your home.
Entering the first part of a postcode (such as SY11) in the box marked 'In location or postcode' will bring back a list of services and activities located in that postcode area.
Once you have your search results, you may be able to improve them further by selecting a filter which is displayed in a list to the left of your results. This filter allows you to limit results by category (such as 'Leisure and Culture' or 'Health and social care').
The title of the record is listed, along with the start of its description. The results page lists all the records that match your search terms. Much like any other search, the results are based on relevance (so are not presented in alphabetical order).
If you have more than 10 matching results, you can click on the page numbers at the foot of the screen to view more records. As well as clicking forward or backward, you can select the first or last page of results.
You can change the sort order of your search results using the options that are shown in the section just above your results. Depending on the type of search that you have done, your results can appear in any of the following sort orders:
If the results returned do not meet your requirements, try changing your search terms.
If you are presented with lots of results, your search terms may have been too vague. Try to be more specific in the terms that you are using, or add extra keywords.
If you have not got any results, your search terms may have been too specific. Try removing one or two words from your search terms.
If you come across any problems using the Directory or need to report errors, broken links or missing information then please let us know. We welcome all comments or suggestions that you might have on how we can improve the service for you and your community. Email: community.info@shropshire.gov.uk