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The Faceted Interface: Optimizing the Usability of Enterprise Search
Glenn Barnett, Principal Consultant, Molecular
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 3
Enter Text Search
Result Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 4
Text SearchText Search
Natural Language ProcessingNatural Language Processing
Relevance RankingRelevance Ranking
Fuzzy MatchingFuzzy Matching
FilteringFiltering
Faceted NavigationFaceted Navigation
Type-Ahead / Auto-SuggestType-Ahead / Auto-Suggest
SlidersSliders
HistogramsHistograms
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 5
What is Faceted Navigation?
Content TypeHTMLXMLPDF
Content CategoryHuman ResourcesInformation SystemsManagement
Publication DatePast WeekPast MonthPast Year
Facet
Facet Values
Facet
Facet Values
Facet
Facet Values
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 9
Measuring facet usage
• Usability test of existing site• Surprisingly low facet usage across tasks • Example task: Find laptop under $1400, 2+ GHz, 30+ GB
drive, DVD player, as light as possible• 5 out of 8 total participants used facets, some with hesitation• 1 out of 4 infrequent visitors used facets
• Log file analysis metrics• Percentage of visitors who used facets• Percentage of visitors who reached product page• Conversion rate
• User interviews• Some customers expressed difficulty finding products
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 10
What wasn’t working?
Discoverability
People weren’t noticing the facets
Usability
People couldn’t use the facets easily
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 11
Discoverability: Placement & Prominence
• Strong user behavior patterns on results pages• Eyes tend to jump to where they expect results to begin• Vertical page scanning
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 13
Discoverability: Placement & Prominence
• Users may not expect facets, so we need to intercept their eyes
• Position facets as close as possible to top of results• Stack above results when possible• Make prominent by using:
• Size• Color• Shape• White space• Interface elements (link underlining, form elements)
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 14
Discoverability: Connection to results
Clear visual connection between facets and results list
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 15
Usability
Goal: Ensure people can easily use the facets• Selecting values• Verifying selections• Modifying selections
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 16
Usability: Selecting values
• Familiar interface elements reduce learning curve for new interactions• Simple text links• Drop-down menus
• Numbers help users see effects of their choices in advance
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 17
Usability: Selecting values
Support selection of multiple values where appropriate• E.g., brand, features
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 18
Usability: Verifying selections
Breadcrumbs: the common approach• May not be prominent enough to give clear user feedback• Often too separated from what I just clicked on• Inconsistent with expectations for breadcrumb behavior
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 19
Usability: Verifying selections
Place contextually near facet controls Yahoo!
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 20
Usability: Verifying selections
Use more familiar interface elements• Simple list• Checkboxes• Drop-down menus
All prices
All manufacturers
Select your options:
All categories
All platforms
All manufacturers
Select your options:
All categories
All platforms
$100 or less $100 or less
All manufacturers
Select your options:
All categories
All platforms
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 21
Usability: Verifying selections
Treat search term like another selected facet
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 22
Usability: Modifying selections
Make sure users can modify their selections• Breadcrumbs are at a disadvantage here
• Beware the “X”
• Beware making users work too hard
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 23
The new PC Connection
Discoverability• Placement on left• Prominence with color,
drop-down menus, and movement
• Connection to results with color and shape
Usability• Selecting values with
familiar drop-downs• Numbers, more link
• Verifying selections via familiar checkboxes, placed contextually• Search terms and
Clearance too• Modifying values by
unchecking
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 24
The new PC Connection
• Usability test of new site• Facet usage greatly improved • Same task: Find laptop under $1400, 2+ GHz, 30+ GB drive,
DVD player, as light as possible• 10 out of 10 participants used facets without hesitation
• Log file analysis• Improved use of facets• Improved conversion rate
• Customer service feedback positive
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 25
Facet Configuration Best Practices
• Facet selection: Which should appear?• Facet sequence: In what order?• Facet values: What options for each?
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 26
Facet selection
• What facets should appear?• Know your data• Look at your logs
• Click paths and feature usage• Search terms
• Talk with your users• Interviews• Survey
• Minimize information overload
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 27
Facet sequence
• What order should they appear in?• By usage • Alphabetical• By type (e.g., all the tech specs grouped together)
• Consistent across categories?• Task or category appropriateness more important than
sitewide consistency• Example: “Platform” facet in Laptops vs. Cables
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 28
Facet values
• Common practice: Values as ranges• Does not reflect more common usage
• “I want to spend less than $200”
• “I want at least a 12-inch screen”
CNET
Crutchfield
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 30
Facet values
• Values should be minimums or maximums where appropriate
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 31
Facet Configuration Best Practices - Summary
The faceted interface is only as good as what lies behind it• Good metadata
• Useful• Accurate• Clear
• User-centered taxonomy and labeling• Good search
• Relevancy• Thesaurus (synonyms, acronyms, abbreviations, stemming,
spelling variants, stop words)
Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com 32
Thank you
Glenn Barnett
Principal Consultant, [email protected]