Coming in late to this - and reading mail in reverse chronological order --

I was a usability testee on 'search help tips' for a boeing internal webhelp site. If the search vehicle will be used by non-librarians - it is very impt to phrase info in lay terms.

"Using more than one word" makes more sense as a link than 'how to do boolean searches", for example. both are task oriented, but one (the second) requires specific micro-knowledge. I discovered this as I was working thru the scenarios during the test.

Personally, on results pages - I like a new search box on top & bottom -- a repeat of the search terms that I have used (in case i forgot or to let me "see" that I had a typo) -- how many pages matched -

I don't care about those "80%" or similar markings because they are usually "greek" to me as I don't know how the site is ranking the search terms.



> Kathy E. Gill
> DCAC/MRM Methods Communication -- 425.965.6901
>
>
> ----------
> From:         Michael Fry[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>
>
> Louise,
>
> You might also consider the following (on both the search interface as
> well as the results page):
>
> SEARCH PAGE
> ============
> * examples of appropriate search syntax, if applicable
> * an explanation of what material the search tool will be searching
> through
> * an explanation of how the search tool finds matches
>
>