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Search Behavior Patterns by John Ferrara on 2008/01/30

A search engine on an organization’s website or intranet is often built to support an overly narrow model of user behavior, which goes something like this:

• User types in a search
• Search engine gives back matching results
• User reads the results and picks the best one

Simple. Better still, it asks very little of the user interface—only that it provide some way to submit a search, and some list in response.

However, such simple models overlook the fact that humans are complex, convoluted, capricious, mutable, moody, multifaceted beings with broadly differing backgrounds, competencies, and frames of reference. (1) In practice, this can make the requirements for search interfaces quite a bit more complicated.

The good news is that while users vary widely in the ways they search, their behaviors follow a limited number of identifiable patterns. By examining the factors that cause variability in user behavior and considering personas that illustrate those variations, we can identify common search behavior patterns and the interface affordances that support them.

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Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, February 4, 2008:

User Skills Improving, But Only Slightly

Summary:
Users now do basic operations with confidence and perform with skill on sites they use often. But when users try new sites, well-known usability problems still cause failures.

Enemies of usability have two counter-arguments against design guidelines that are based on user research:

• "You're testing idiots — most users are smarter and don't mind complexity."
• "You were right in the past, but users have now learned how to use advanced websites, so simplicity isn't a requirement anymore."

I decided to put these claims to the test in a new study we're currently conducting. We'll use the new insights generated by the study to update our course on Fundamental Guidelines for Web Usability.

Because we're testing this year's sites with this year's users, the study automatically assesses the second claim.

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Advancing Advanced Search

by Stephen Turbek on 2008/01/16

Advanced search is the ugly child of interface design -always included, but never loved. Websites have come to depend on their search engines as the volume of content has increased. Yet advanced search functionality has not significantly developed in years. Poor matches and overwhelming search results remain a problem for users. Perhaps the standard search pattern deserves a new look. A progressive disclosure approach can enable users to use precision advanced search techniques to refine their searches and pinpoint the desired results.

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