from Hacker News

Khan Academy + Instant Search = Khan Instant

by bjacobso on 10/25/10, 12:43 AM with 24 comments

  • by aik on 10/25/10, 1:57 AM

    Great interface, however: I don't find myself trusting the results when it populates differently depending on how quickly I type a word. Typing "chemistry" at different rates gives different results, including some results that aren't related to chemistry (such as banking). By the way I type generally between 70-140+wpm depending on the word.
  • by empire29 on 10/25/10, 2:28 PM

    Cool in concept, but your search algorithm leaves something to be desired.

    Your app reminded me I wanted to watch Khan's videos on IPOs, so I type in: IPO ... about half way down the list of ~50 results are the videos I wanted to watch (An IPO, More on IPOs).. I actually had to do a Ctrl-F to find them in the result list.

  • by mambodog on 10/25/10, 7:33 AM

    I was just thinking today that they (Khan Academy) should add an instant search instead of the wall of links they have currently. For a user such as one of us, the wall of links is ideal for a CTRL-F find to quickly highlight lessons on, say, vectors, but for non-technical users, this solution may not come to mind.
  • by ewams on 10/25/10, 1:49 AM

    Thank you very much. I have been looking for a better search for KA and instant results are a plus.
  • by tdupree on 10/25/10, 6:03 PM

    Nicely done! It would be nice if you would allow the user to fullscreen the videos. I think adding "allowFullScreen: true" to your params object for your js embed would add this functionality.
  • by InfinityX0 on 10/25/10, 4:13 AM

    Can I get Instant Instant? Where I want to search for a general topic generally and by typing in something, the instant search instant returns the best instant search engine?
  • by rokamic on 10/25/10, 3:44 AM

    Genius. Yep, I said it. But the initial video showed confused me when I did a new search and the video stayed the same. Shouldn't the most relevant video load instantly?
  • by DanielRibeiro on 10/25/10, 2:02 AM

    Minor bug: "searching" for startup yields two of the same video, instead of the two parts of Khan's presentation on founder equity.
  • by dinkumthinkum on 10/25/10, 3:18 PM

    Try "linear algebra," it doesn't really yield good results.
  • by gojomo on 10/25/10, 3:59 AM

    Great idea. May want to turn off browser's own 'autocomplete' as its popup results obscure the top of those in your page.