I fondly remember the good old days of mediocre search technology, where you could design a Web site with the assumption that people would expend at least a few dozen seconds combing through your site's pages to see if there was anything of interest.
Nowadays, you only have a matter of seconds to grab a site visitor's interest, and that generally consists of the following actions: 1) scanning the page for a few moments for headlines of interest; 2) thinking if there's anything on the site that isn't exposed that they would like to find, and 3) typing a keyword into your search bar. Not much else, unless they land on a page in your site from a search, and you'd better hope your information architecture is strong enough to orient them.
Knowing this is the default behavior for a good number of your site visitors makes the design and placement of your site search tools of critical importance for a functional user experience. Users expect the quickest paths between their need and a correct result -- they want the bullet train, not the sailboat.
Here's some common UX design gaffes related to search I've noticed recently, clearly documented, and tried to avoid in my own work.
1. Placing filters or pull-down options in a simple search. Ready to go find all the content related to, say, corgis? People have grown to expect just a box and a submit button if they're executing a self-guided search. Don't add pull-down menus or anything else that allows people to filter content independent of keywords on your plain text search box. Put those features in your advanced search functionality for those users who want to get crafty with selecting different types of context and don't know the shortcuts like "grouping words together" in the search box, etc.
2. Changing controls from search to result. Very dangerous. Users expect consistency from their search experience and the functionality that they're presented with. When flipping from the initial query to your results screen, your search box shouldn't change functionality. If you offer an advanced search, it should always be an option to toggle on, or never be an option for the end user. Otherwise, you're going to confuse them and/or piss them off.
3. Not making your search criteria explicit. Your search page design should always foreground what the user sought before any search listings. It's not enough to re-render the same search terms within the search box. There must be a listing of what they asked for before you give them what they asked for, and with a real level of prominence in the visual design. I liken it to placing an order at a restaurant. When your meal arrives, your waitron usually says, "So, you ordered the cheeseburger with avocado, right?" Same principle.
4. Over/Underbuilding the advanced search. If you do offer the user an advanced search, consider clustering different search methods on one screen, then collapsing them and having the user choose which methods they want to combine to search your site. This allows the user to expose types of data they're wishing to sift and use those in concert. Google does this fairly well. Don't implement it like the advanced search on Windows Live which forces you to string together your advanced search criteria one at a time. Fewer interactions foregrounded in one place will equal a better user experience.
Recent Comments