Search Pages and Results

1. Search Pages and Results INF 385E Information Architecture and DesignⅠ Min Yao October 11, 2005

2. Overview • Why do we love search • Locating Search • Scoping Search • Query Entry • Retrieval Results • Query Refinement • Finishing Search

3. Why do we love search? • Search lets users control their own destiny • Search is also users' escape hatch when they are stuck in navigation

4. Locating Search • “the little box where I can type” • Top left, middle or right • Put the search tool in a consistent place

5. Scoping Search

6. Query Entry • Where to enter a query?(Multiple search boxes can be confusing.) • Is it easy to enter a query? (Boolean operator?)

7. Query Entry (cont) • Is the search box long enough to handle common query lengths? • The mean query length is slowly increasing, approaching three terms • Search log analysis • query builders?(spell-checking, stemming, natural language processing)

8. Retrieval Results • Elements of Results Page

10. Retrieval Results (cont) • Which content components to display? Depend on users’ needs, which components are available

12. Retrieval Results (cont) • How to organize retrieval results? • Sorting: alphabet, chronology • Ranking: relevance, popularity, users’/experts’ ratings, pay-for-placement Vaughan (2004) compared human rankings with those of Google, AltaVista and Teoma. • Clustering

14. Retrieval Results (cont) • Zero results?

15. Query Refinement • Advanced search, refine search or revise search • Display the original search, make it easy to edit • Narrow search results, search within results • Expand search results

18. Finishing Search • Save a group of results • Print or email a result • Save a search query (alerts)