New Advanced Datasheet Searching

[datasheetarchive]

We launched the new Datasheet Archive website this weekend. We are trying to offer a new unique search approach. Complete fulltext searching of our pdf archive. Millions of cross references from our data book scanning project. Less hassle in downloading and faster service.

You can see what people are searching for on our main page recent downloads section. http://www.datasheetarchive.com/

Hope a few of you find it useful. All feedback appreciated. :-)

The Datasheet Archvie Team

[AntiProtonBoy]

I like it, nice clean design. I have only one big criticism:

I don't see the point of the sections "Recent Datasheet Downloads", "Popular Datasheet Downloads", etc, on the index page. I can't see anyone sitting there, looking tough all that, unless the individual happens to be a google bot, or something. It's redundant clutter,  I'm sure most people would hit the search bar straight away. You're probably better off with clean index page with the search bar smack in the middle.

[datasheetarchive]

Thank you for the feedback

The recent datasheet section is there to highlight search terms other users enter. Each successful download is added to the list. We found many people didn't know how to enter effective search criteria. Other vertical electronic component search engines have historically relied on knowing a part number.

Many users automatically think they have to enter a part number. We are trying to change that so a user can enter a broader range of criteria. We thought showing examples will prompt new users to try keyword searching.

It seems to work with many users now searching by description or paramaters.

[free_electron]

I generally do not like websites like this, for two reasons :

The datasheet may be outdated. Datsheets do get revised from time to time, and the only way to be sure is to go get the official datsheet for the part, from the right manufacturer. A 2n2222 from fairchild may be slightly different than a 2n2222 from motorola... So both are important.

Point two: these websites are all in violation of copyright! Datasheets are copyrighted by the companies that issue them. Linking to them, yes ( and then they will be up to date. ). This is what digikey and mouser and others do. They link.
Now, if you are not charging money for them the parts makers probably will not object. But, there are websites out there that charge a subscription fee and that is just plain criminal.

[sorin]

I don't like it, so many duplicates

[datasheetarchive]

Some good points raised thank you.

Duplicates, I generally agree that its annoying to get the same part number showing for the same manufacturer. However, we are an archive and every indexed datasheet is unique. Many of them have very subtle revision changes. Its a misconception that everyone always wants the latest version of a datasheet.  So we archive every one of them as long as its unique (in its text conversion).

Point Two Copyright - manufacturers often remove obsolete datasheets from their websites. Many were only available in data books that we have scanned. Another common situation is that manufacturers merge or disappear. Your example of a Motorola part highlights this. We are the only website to have archived most Motorola datasheets before they vanished. Its a similar situation with hundreds of other manufacturers. So I would ask where you would get the datasheet when this happens if it wasn't for archiving.

We also make the internal content of manufacturer datasheets searchable. There is only a very limited number of manufacturer websites that do this. So we actually take their content and improve the search functionality.

So I can accept your points are fair. But i do think we provide a valuable service and I'm sure if you're researching components there will be a time you find so.

[mikeselectricstuff]

The upload link only appears to accept URLs of online datadsheets - you should make it easier to upload datasheets to encourage people to contribute any they have - e.g. I just searched a fairly obscure IC and found that the datasheet you have is an old version, for an obsolete revision of the chip. I happen to have a later version (which is not on the manufacturer's website).
 I'd happily send if it was easy to do, but I'm not going to bother uploading it somewhere & then submitting a link.

[AntiProtonBoy]

The recent datasheet section is there to highlight search terms other users enter. Each successful download is added to the list. We found many people didn't know how to enter effective search criteria. Other vertical electronic component search engines have historically relied on knowing a part number.

Many users automatically think they have to enter a part number. We are trying to change that so a user can enter a broader range of criteria. We thought showing examples will prompt new users to try keyword searching.

It seems to work with many users now searching by description or paramaters.

I think the most effective way of changing people's habits is by implementing an good dynamic phrase hinting system while they're typing into the search box. The current one you have right now is not very effective in that respect, the hints seem to be just an exhaustive list of words that appear in the database. I think borrowing ideas from Google in that area is probably a good way to go.

[LEECH666]

[...]

We also make the internal content of manufacturer datasheets searchable. There is only a very limited number of manufacturer websites that do this. So we actually
take their content and improve the search functionality.

[...]

I have to say that I like datasheetarchive.com
I have used it before at work and it was the only big datasheet search engine / archive that found what I was looking for. I credit that to the quoted part above.

It's really neat if you just have one part number and don't know what family of parts it belongs to. You just enter that very specific part number and get the datasheet of the family of parts. (I was searching for a Resistor family from Panasonic).

Florian

[free_electron]

Point Two Copyright - manufacturers often remove obsolete datasheets from their websites. Many were only available in data books that we have scanned. Another common situation is that manufacturers merge or disappear. Your example of a Motorola part highlights this. We are the only website to have archived most Motorola datasheets before they vanished.

What you are saying is all true but it does not change the fact that you are in violation of the copyright ... Now, i'm not pro or contra. As long as the datasheets are provided free i don't even care. i browsed your site a bit and its pretty good. i even like the 'buy link that goes to findchips ...

But, here is the kind of site i do have a problem with : the web is full of squatting sites. You key in a partnumber in google and you invariably end up at some russian or chinese partsbroker site , that 1) doesn't have the datasheet to begine with ( they just bomb-seed the search engines with random numbers ) 2) doesn't have the part either. 3) will probably sell you a fake...
Those sites deserve to die and should be stomped out . They are an absolute PEST.

[T4P]

So what if they are violating copyrights?
Isn't it better we can easily find them obsolete 'sheets instead of going to some non-existent manufacturer which died but we still have the part to find a pdf ?
Isn't it better that we can easily find current sheets from multiple manufacturers easily so that we don't have to go to some manufacturer's website that is so convoluted it takes 3 hours to find the datasheet

[Neilm]

So what if they are violating copyrights?
Isn't it better we can easily find them obsolete 'sheets instead of going to some non-existent manufacturer which died but we still have the part to find a pdf ?
Isn't it better that we can easily find current sheets from multiple manufacturers easily so that we don't have to go to some manufacturer's website that is so convoluted it takes 3 hours to find the datasheet

Agreed - There is nothing worse than finding a part has gone obsolete and you can not find information on it to be able to choose a replacement. That being said, some other manufacturers still recognise the old part number and give you their closest alternative.

Yours

Neil

[datasheetarchive]

mikeselectricstuff - the upload file option is coming soon. i think it will be very useful.

AntiProtonBoy - the autosuggest feature right now is aimed more at part numbers. Since we are dealing with millions of documents it was extremely complicated to base it on phrases instead of single words/parts. I know it’s possible but something for the future.

Everyone else - thank you for the feedback. Drop me an email if you have any further ideas, suggestions, comment, dislikes on the website.

[amyk]

Duplicates, I generally agree that its annoying to get the same part number showing for the same manufacturer. However, we are an archive and every indexed datasheet is unique. Many of them have very subtle revision changes. Its a misconception that everyone always wants the latest version of a datasheet.  So we archive every one of them as long as its unique (in its text conversion).

I agree with this; when servicing old electronics, doing some RE work, and general research it's good to be able to find the revision history of a part (e.g. did you know Samsung has been quietly decreasing the write endurance specs on some of its flash chips with newer datasheet revisions?) Providing a version/date field is also a suggestion I can make.

[T4P]

Duplicates, I generally agree that its annoying to get the same part number showing for the same manufacturer. However, we are an archive and every indexed datasheet is unique. Many of them have very subtle revision changes. Its a misconception that everyone always wants the latest version of a datasheet.  So we archive every one of them as long as its unique (in its text conversion).

I agree with this; when servicing old electronics, doing some RE work, and general research it's good to be able to find the revision history of a part (e.g. did you know Samsung has been quietly decreasing the write endurance specs on some of its flash chips with newer datasheet revisions?) Providing a version/date field is also a suggestion I can make.

Samsung has been quietly cheapening manufacturing and not so much of cherry picking. (They have gone completely to China)