Search

Problem

A user is looking for something and does not want to waste time.

Solution

Provide users with an easy to use search mechanism.

Context

• Users are aware that they have an information need.
• Users are able to articulate something about their information need, even if they can’t articulate it precisely.
• Users don’t want to have to use navigation mechanisms if they can search for what they want.

Rationale

In many cases users have a sense of what they are looking for, or at least a sense of what to ask for. Users also in many cases are thinking of what they are looking for in ways that do not match with the way you have organized your content. Therefore, rather than forcing users to get to know your navigational categorizations, just let them search based on what they are able to articulate, in their own terms.

Implementation

Place a search box in a consistent position near the top of the page. In most cases you will want to simply use a text field for users to enter a search phrase and a single button labeled something like “Search” or “Go.”

For information on how to provide the results of the search, see the Search Results pattern.

The default search mechanism should just be a simple free form text box that allows users to enter text describing what they are looking for. Do not require users to make any other choices for this simple default search. You can of course offer more advanced search features, but because many people do not like this, do not force them to use it.

Here are some specific tips for implementing search that you may want to consider:

• Organize your content, and allow users to search within each section (e.g., “Books” or “Music”).
• Create a taxonomy as part of your information architecture, including a thesaurus which allows you to define which terms should be seen as synonymous or related in other ways, allowing for better matches to user searches.
• Notice potential misspellings and offer suggested spellings of terms.
• Offer suggestions to users based on search results being very small or very large, and based on related searches that other users have used.
• Provide an advanced search page with more power search features (e.g., Boolean logic operators), and searching tips.
• Show users the search term as part of the search results. For further tips on search results, see the Search Results pattern.

Advanced Search

Here are some more specific tips for implementing advanced search that you may want to consider:

• When a search is related to items or products that have standard attributes (e.g., book title, author, publication date), you may want to provide optional fields that match these attributes as part of an advanced search.
• For filtering fields, such as Country, State, etc, make sure to use a default of “all” so that the user is not forced to make choices for filters they don’t care about (see below).

Help Me Get There

Infragistics has some tools that can jumpstart your efforts to implement this pattern. Broken down by technology, they are as follows.

ASP.NET

Search pattern can be implemented using combination of the following ASP.NET controls: WebTextEditor, WebImageButton. Check out the samples browser to see it in action.

Windows Forms

You can use the NetAdvantage for Windows Forms WinCombo and WinComboEditor with AutoComplete enabled can be used to implement this pattern. Furthermore, the Filtering feature in the WinGrid implements this feature. If you download the NetAdvantage for Win Client bundle, you can find a sample in the WinForms sample browser called WinGrid Samples to see it in action.

WPF

The NetAdvantage for WPF XamDataGrid has a feature titled Filtering that implements the search pattern. If you download the NetAdvantage for Win Client bundle, you can find a sample in the xamFeatureBrowser called Filter Record to see it in action.

 

Sources

Patterns in Interaction Design, Advanced Search

Patterns in Interaction Design, Search Box

Tags

Navigation, Search.