Google’s attention to detail – down to a single pixel

Chad Johnson May 30, 2014

I have always been impressed with Google’s attention to detail. The custom yellow shell around the Google Search Appliance is completely useless, but I suspect it has enhanced the value of their trademark. GMail’s reminder when you mention an attachment in your message but forget to actually attach a document is downright useful.

Two recent examples caught my attention, and even made me chuckle a little.

Moving Shadows

Last year Google upgraded the desktop version of Google Maps to use vector rendering instead of static image tiles. It improved the performance but also allowed for some cool 3D rendering tricks. Have you noticed that the 3D shadows cast by buildings and tall monuments change throughout the day according to the sun’s position? Static shadows look static. Dynamic shadows look real. Or just cool, like that magical map in Harry Potter. (via. http://kottke.org/14/05/google-maps-impressive-attention-to-detail)

Plexi: GSA adaptors for non-HTTP content repositories

Chad Johnson May 21, 2014

The Google Search Appliance has historically required Connectors to facilitate the indexing of non-HTTP content repositories. A Connector is a program that sits between the GSA and a repository, and pushes the GSA everything it needed to know to index the repository (including the content, metadata, and security information). A Connector can use any technique to interrogate the repository (APIs, database queries, etc.), and the Connector is wholly responsible for deciding what to send, and when.

But a new methodology is emerging. Google is transitioning from Connectors to Adaptors. You can read Google’s description of an Adaptor here. I’ll admit, I have read this a few times, and talked to Google engineers and my team members about it, but I didn’t immediately grasp the value. I am comfortable developing Connectors, so why change?

Last week I was speaking to a group of prospective GSA customers at Google HQ. While I was taking some Q&A from the audience, it clicked. Someone asked me how connectors keeps track of new, updated, or deleted items to ensure the GSA is in sync with a repository. I mentioned that our Connectors either rely on an API that will stream us those events, or the Connector maintains a snapshot of the repository’s current state and does a periodic comparison to figure out if anything has changed.

The GSA’s ‘Out of the Box’ XSL template, with several features enabled.

GSA UI: Should I use the on-board XSLT engine?

Chad Johnson May 13, 2014

The Google Search Appliance ships with a full-function — but no thrills — XSL template (XSLT) that we refer to as the ‘out of the box’ user interface. It looks a little bit like google.com did a few years ago – lots of blue and white, and very few graphics. But it does support all of the enterprise features that the GSA includes, such as Dynamic Navigation, Document Preview, Expert Search, and more.

You can think of the XSLT as a skin on top of the XML results that the GSA produces. When you run a search, the GSA generates an XML document with your results, and then optionally applies an XSL template of your choice to that XML. The XSLT converts the XML into HTML, and then the GSA’s web server delivers the HTML to your browser.

Staffing a successful Google Search Appliance implementation

Chad Johnson May 5, 2014

Congratulations, you have either purchased or are interested in purchasing the Google Search Appliance. You will soon be able to search until your heart is content. Your friends will be jealous.

Now might be a good time to think about the staff required to deploy and maintain your cool new toy investment.

The Google Search Appliance, being an appliance, does not have exactly the same staffing profile as other enterprise search engines. Some people will go so far as to claim it requires virtually no staff to deploy or maintain. You just plug it in and it works, right?

Sort of.

I would like to discuss three critical people (or roles) you will need for your implementation, and roughly when they will need to engage throughout your implementation. These may be applicable to other vendor’s solutions, but I am going to specifically address the types of maintenance the GSA requires.

Google’s attention to detail – down to a single pixel

Plexi: GSA adaptors for non-HTTP content repositories

GSA UI: Should I use the on-board XSLT engine?

Staffing a successful Google Search Appliance implementation

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