Designing Usable Search Interfaces: The Good, The Bad, The

Designing Usable Search InterfacesWhitney Quesenbery, Whitney Interactive Design

© 2001, 2002 Whitney Quesenbery Page 1

Designing UsableSearch Interfaces:The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Whitney QuesenberyWhitney Interactive Designwww.WQusability.com

Washington DC UPA Chapter MeetingApril 2002

DESIGNING SEARCH INTERFACES © 2001,2002 Whitney Quesenbery 2

Why is search so hard?

Most people can tell you what they want, butthey have trouble being specific enough for amachine to interpret their requests or makesuggestions

http://www.ucomics.com/adamathomeMay 19, 1999




http://www.askjeeves.com

Can we “just tell it what we want”?Words can havespecialized meanings

“Old House” is arenovator’s term, and hasspecial meaning

Words can have doublemeanings

“Dinosaur” can be aprehistoric beast or ametaphor for someonewhose time has passed

Since I captured this response,the database has learned about“old houses” and now returnsmore useful results.


Is search used at all?

UIE reports on their usability testingsay that:

53% of users found what they wantedwithout using the site search engineOnly 30% succeeded using searchSearch entry boxes located on everypage are generally ignored

Jakob Nielsen’s UseIt columnsuggests:

Over half of all users are “searchdominant” going directly to a searchfunctionOthers use search only when links failSearch entry boxes or buttons should belocated on every page

In a recent usability testwe conducted, evengeneral consumerswanted search -- “aplace where they couldtype in what they werelooking for”




Is the solution a “one field” interface?


Search Interaction

Createthe query

Formulatea question

Selectan item

Try again

Reviewresults

Evaluatesuccess

Examineselected item

Evaluatelikelihood of

successRefinesearch

The user interface includeselements to:

Enter the queryDisplay the list of resultsDisplay an item found




Formulating the QuerySearch interfaces are hard for general users

The “Boolean Paradox”“Find the names of all people living in NewJersey and Maryland”

STATE=NJ AND STATE=MD vsSTATE=NJ OR STATE=MD

Queries which are easy to say can be difficultto express in precise syntax

“Let’s find a western. No John Wayne, exceptthe one with Katherine Hepburn might be OK,and no Val Kilmer. Not too much violence, andsome good scenery.”

Engines support different capabilities - noconsistency

Search rules vary; syntax varies

Createthe query

Formulatea question


Formulating the QueryHow people express a search query dependson what they are looking for and their startingapproach to the problem of finding information

FINDI know exactly what I’m looking for and justneed to find itSTRUCTUREDI want to narrow down my choices and then beable to look through some optionsQUERYI can describe what I’m looking for and need tosee a few good optionsBROWSEI just want to explore. I’ll follow my nose.GUIDEDI want to be taken through in a planned way -not really a search?

Createthe query

Formulatea question




FindFind offersprecision in asingle step

For those whoknow the domainwellHave a secondsource ofinformationNeed precision orefficiency

www.eddiebauer.com


StructuredRelies on aclassification schemeMay use a hiddensearch mechanism tokeep content evergreenShortcuts allow usersto jump throughstructure

1

2

3

www.eddiebauer.com




http://www.wine.com/home/

Mental models and classifications

A classificationscheme forexperts

TypeWineryRegion

Does it answer:

“What wine willI like?”


Mental models and classification

A classificationscheme for non-experts -Organized by adescription ofhow it tastes

Asked themselves:

How doaverageshoppers talkabout wine?

http://www.bestcellars.com/




Query

Simple query screento a more complexone

http://www.hotbot.com


Query

Balancingcomplexity withenough fields

Are they assuming:

“Only people whoknow books will usethe advancedsearch?”

http://www.amazon.com




Query

Power searchgoes all the wayback to a one-field interface

Users enter acomplete query,with noassistance.



Source: Alta Vista business search

Making the UI helpful

Create asequencePromptsprovideinstructionsExamplesareavailablewhenneeded




Browse: FacetsEach recipe is assigned at leastone:

Main ingredientCourse/mealPreparation styleCuisineSeason/Occasion

Starting from any one of these‘facets’ the user may

Back up to a previous selectionChoose another facet to narrowthe searchSelect from one of the list ofrecipes presented

All selections are done by clickingon links - no entering text

http://www.epicurious.com


Using browsing to create a complex searchThe Enhanced Searchscreen shows all of theoptions in the browse,but allows forcombinationsIt retains a sense ofbrowsing, even thoughit is constructing aboolean search behindthe scenes

http://www.epicurious.com




Reviewing resultsHow well does the interface presentresults so that an item can be selectedwith confidence

Enough information in the resultitem to give a strong scent ofinformationAbility to discriminate betweendifferent types of documentsEasily scan-able

Reviewresults

Evaluatelikelihood of

success


http://www.vanguard.com/site/search.html

Combining Search OptionsCombines severalapproaches on onepage

Links to specialfeatures that arelikely to providedirect answersSimple text-boxsearch (and a linkto an advancedsearch)Browse, usingindex terms




Helping users identify the document type

Document types help usersfind the right item in a longlist search results

http://www.vanguard.com


Offering results in more than one formatImproving thechance for asuccessful choice

Grouping andclassification ofresultsEditorial selectionRelated actions





Image browsing

Imagesearchesallow resultsto bebrowsedvisuallyDisplayincludes filename, sizeand source

http://www.google.com


Refining the searchCombining refiningthe search withreviewing the results

Continuouslydisplayed resultsOptions to searchwithin the currentresults set

Createthe query

Reviewresults

Evaluatelikelihood

ofsuccessRefine

search




Selecting the scope of the search

The advanced searchscreen does not have manyoptions, except the ability toselect the scope of thesearch by selecting whichreferences are searchedhttp://www.merckmedicus.com


Combining query and results on a screenDirectmanipulation toform a query

A visualrepresentation ofthe query andthe resultsRapid,incremental, andreversibleactionsSelection bypointingImmediate andcontinuousdisplay of results

Developed at the HCIL of University of Marylandhttp://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil

“Where can I find a house?”




Combining query and results

The full set isalways available,but a simple queryis constructed bychecking types ofpeople.People matchingthe query areshown in purple

http://www.chiplace.org/people/


References

A comparison of different search engines in 1996 and 1999http://www.curtin.edu.au/curtin/library/staffpages/gwpersonal/senginestudy/Clarifying Search: A User Interface Framework for TextSearches - Shneiderman, Byrd, CroftUIE on search: http://world.std.com/~uieweb/searchart.htmNielsen on search: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9707b.htmlInnovations in Classification - Peter Merholzhttp://www.peterme.com/archives/00000063.html




About Whitney Quesenbery

Whitney has extensive user interface design and projectmanagement experience. She has produced award winningmultimedia products, user interfaces, web sites, andsoftware applications. A key player in the development ofthe LUCID Framework, she promotes the importance ofhuman interaction and usability in interface design.

Manager of the STCUsability SIG

Outreach Directorfor UPA

“It’s exciting whena new designchanges people’slives by helpingthem work better.”

User Interface Designer: Created user interfaces forsoftware applications, web sites, multimediaapplications, documentation.Big-Picture Visioning: Whitney specializes in the bigpicture for applications and projects. She sees howthe client’s needs and the users’ needs best fittogether, and she knows how to present that visionfor maximum effect.

Theatrical Lighting Designer 1974-1989: Discoveredthat a computer screen is just like a tiny stage in theway that audience attention is directed by the design.

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Designing Usable Search Interfaces: The Good, The Bad, The