Best Practices for Designing Faceted Search Filters

1. Best Practices for Designing Faceted Search Filters Yonglei Tao

2. Faceted Search/Navigation • A technique for accessing data organized according to a faceted classification system • Allowing users to explore a collection of data by applying multiple filters • A faceted classification system classifies each data element along several dimensions, called facets, enabling the data to be accessed and ordered in multiple ways rather than in a single, pre-determined, taxonomic order • Wine – Grape, Region, Year, and Price

3. Search “Sony Alpha 5” on Amazon • Mutually exclusive - Jointly exhaustive Value Facet

4. An Example of Faceted Classification

5. One More Example

6. Design Issues for Faceted Navigation • Filter value-selection paradigms • Undo for filter selection • Availability of all filters • Display of filter values

7. 1. Filter Value-Selection Paradigms • Links Allowing the user to either select a single value for a specific filter or drill down a level in a taxonomy, like a category or department hierarchy • Checkboxes Allowing the user to indicate parallel selection of multiple filter-values, limiting the scope of search results to those that match them

10. Office Depot - Before

11. Office Depot - Now

12. Home Depot

13. Additional Issues • When to update the search results if several value selections allowed? • Design options • As soon as a selection is made • Once after all selections are done How does the program know when they are done?

14. 2. Undo for Filter Selections • Users often need to return to the original, pre-filtered state • So as to restart/redefine the search criteria • Allow a clear and consistent way to undo a filter value selection and go back • Select option All (categories) or Any (category) • Deselect all filter selections

16. Kayak

17. Office Depot - Before

18. Office Depot - Before

19. Office Depot - Now

21. 3. Availability of All Filters • It might not be necessary to have all filters visible at the same time • Collapse filters to a label and provide a single link like “View All Filters” • Be careful if only display previously selected options • Difficult for the user to use if filters start randomly disappearing with no way to bring them back • Consistency • Disable instead of removing • Difficult to achieve, particularly when a filter’s value options are dynamic

22. Office Depot – Before after Red is selected

23. Office Depot - Now • after Black is selected

24. Home Depot

25. 4. Display of Filter Values • Any visible filtering options should reflect only what is available at every step in the search workflow • Not applicable should not be visible • We must always strive to design every filter to include a list of options that covers all that are available • Applicable should be accessible • Common problems • Providing a generic list of values that may or may not be applicable to the specific query at hand

26. An Example of Faceted Classification

27. Office Depot - Before

29. Best Practice • Decide on your filter value-selection paradigm – either drill-down or parallel selection • Provide an obvious and consistent way to undo filter selection • Always make all filters easily available • At every step in the search workflow, display only filter values that correspond to the available items, or inventory • Provide filter values that encompass all items, or the complete inventory

30. Discussion - Online Course Schedule • Who are the users? • What do they intend to do? • Identify possible scenarios • Is faceted search appropriate?

31. Basic Search Select a course Select a section

32. Advance Search