On this page

On this page you can find out more about:

You can search for content on any page of our website by typing a word into the search box in the right-hand corner of any page and clicking on the "Go" button next to the search box. Documents such as PDF or Word files can also be found as the search function includes all filenames in its search.

For a more defined search you can use the advanced search function.

You can find out about how search results are displayed lower down this page, with tips on what to do if you get no results.

Basic searches

To search for content on our site type one or more keywords into thesSearch box and click on the "Go" button. For example, if you want to find out about British Sign Language courses in the London area you might enter "signing courses".

Typing in the above keywords will display a list of pages that contain all the keywords. To refine or narrow your search further simply add or change your keywords. In our example if you enter "signing courses London" you should get more accurate results as each page on the list will contain the words "signing", "courses" and "London".

You can also refine your search by checking the box marked "this section". The search will then only return results for the current area of the site where you are; for example, "Information and resources".

Choosing keywords

For the best results, it's important to choose your keywords wisely. Keep these tips in mind:

Don’t include "and"

Our search will automatically check for pages that contain all your keywords, so you don't need to write "disability and discrimination and act".

Avoid common words

If you just search for the word "how" you will get hundreds of results back, as almost every page on our website will contain that word. Try to avoid common words such as "and", "where" and "of", as well as single letters and digits.

Capitalisation

Searches are not case-sensitive so a search for "MHAS" will return the same results as "mhas".

Names and phrases

If you want to search for names or phrases then you should put your keywords inside double speech marks. For example, searching for "video interpreting" will return results where the words "video" and "interpreting" are together in a sentence. If you do not use speech marks then the results will show all pages that have the words "video" and interpreting, including those where they appear separately.

Operators

"+" searches

If you want to search for a keyword where a number or letter is important then use a "+" sign. For example, "sign language level+1" will return results specific to level 1 sign language courses.

"-" searches

Sometimes there may be more than one meaning for a word or several instances where it may be used. To help get more accurate results include a "-" sign to eliminate pages from your search. For example, "subtitles –video" will not include references to video subtitles but will include results on DVD and cinema subtitles. 

"OR" searches

Adding the word "OR" between keywords will search for pages that contain either keyword. For example, searching for "fundraising events South East OR West" would return results for fundraising events in the South East and fundraising events in the South West.

Number ranges

If you want to search for results between a specific number then use ".." to cover all numbers within that range. For example, searching for "hearing loss 0..39 decibels" will return results relating to mild or no hearing loss.

Advanced searches

Like the basic search function, the advanced search allows you to look for keywords or the title of a document or page within a specific area of the website or across the site as a whole. However, it also lets you adjust your search to find specific words or pages on our site or search only within certain areas of the website.

What are you searching for

You can use these search boxes individually or in combination to do precise searches. The four different search boxes are summarised below:

"At least one of the words"

All search results will contain one or more of the words you enter

For example, if you searched for "employment advice", all pages returned by the search would contain the word "employment" or "advice" or both.

"The exact phrase"

Search results will contain the words you entered in exactly the order you entered them

For example, if you searched for "British Sign Language Level 2", all pages would have to contain all those words and in the order you have written them.

"All the following words"

The search will contain all the words you entered but not necessarily in that order or together in the page. 

For example, if you searched for "care home Margate", all the pages will contain the words "care", "home" and "Margate" somewhere on the page.

"Without the following words"

Entering words into another search and this box and then clicking the search button will exclude certain results.

For example, if you searched for "Sign language" in "The exact phrase" box and put "interpreter" in the "Without the following words" box, all the results would contain the phrase "sign language" but not the word "interpreter".

Area to search in

If you only want to search particular sections of our website, click the "Search one or a combination of the following sections" button and then mark the checkboxes for the sections you want to search.

For example to only search for "British Sign Language" within our media centre and services areas, enter "British Sign Language" in "The exact phrase" box, select "Search one or a combination of the following sections" and mark the boxes next to "Search within the Media Centre" and "Search within Our services".

Date to search by

To help you find the most recent information on our website you can search by the date type and date range. You must select both the type and range from the dropdown menus. This is particularly useful for finding the latest version of a document.

For example if you want to find information on "Tinnitus Awareness Day" that has been published within the week you could search like this:

All the following words: "Tinnitus Awareness Day"
Date type: "Date modified"
Date range: "Last week"

Search results

Once you have pressed the "Go" or "Search" button you will be taken to a new page that shows what we think are the pages that most closely match your chosen search criteria. The results are displayed in order of relevance, with a section called "Best bets" at the top of the page. This contains results that we think are most closely linked to what you searched for.

All search results will show the following information:

Page title

This is the name given to the page or document. The page title is also a link to the page itself: clicking on the title will take you directly to that page.

Brief description of the page

The description provides with a summary of the page or document, with the search terms highlighted.

Section

This is the location of the page or document within the website.

Date published

The date the page appeared on the RNID website. This will help you to find the correct version of a page or document. The date is shown in the format: DD MM YYYY.

More results

If more than 15 results are returned for a search you can navigate between the results by using the "Start", "End", "Previous", "Next" and numbered links underneath the "Best bets" section.

The number of results returned and displayed per page is also shown under the "Best bets" section. For example, "Showing 1 to 15 of 50 results" tells you that you are currently seeing what we believe to be the 10 most relevant results (webpages and documents) and that a total of 50 results have been returned.

Start

The "Start" link will take you to the first page of your search results.

End

The "End" link will take you to the last page of your search results.

Previous

The "Previous" link will take you back to the previous search results page. For example, if you are on the second page of results this link will take you to the first page. If you are already on the first page this link will not be active.

Next

The "Next" link will take you to the next search results page. For example, if you are on the second page of results this link will take you to the third page. If you are already on the last page this link will not be active.

1 | 2 | 3 ...

These links will take you to a specific page of search results, as indicated by the number. You can use this to go back to a specific results page after scanning through subsequent pages.

No results

If your search did not produce any results try broadening your search criteria. Here are some ideas you can try: 

Further help

If you are still having problems finding what you need or the search function does not appear to be working contact the RNID Web Team