Yesterday, I was talking with some clients about a search product 
that we're testing. The man who's writing the software under test 
said that people have become better searchers over the years. His 
example was that they're not typing things like, "I'm looking for 
information on George Washington's false teeth" but have learned to 
type in just "George Washington's false teeth". He also suggested 
that people learned to leave out words like "the" that don't matter 
in a search.

Is that what you've observed? I don't recall the old behavior that 
this person brought up, so I can't say. I don't think the average 
search user is any more adept at search than at any of the other 
things we take for granted.

Comments to me for summary, discussion to the list, etc.

thanks                          -- hs

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Hal Shubin, Interaction Design, Inc.
617 489 6595
www.user.com

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