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Subject:
From:
Lou Rosenfeld <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lou Rosenfeld <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 28 Jan 1999 17:52:49 -0500
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There doesn't seem to be a clear case to be made in either direction here.
This is probably because, like just about everything else in this
discussion, the answer depends on the situation.  If users are new to the
site, better have good navigational approaches (maybe a TOC) to help them
explore and develop a mental map of what's there.  If they're looking for
something they know is available from the site, better have a search
interface (or site index) that helps them find it.  And because the nature
of the content can vary as much as users' information needs do, content has
a similar impact on the ways a site should help users find information.

If someone claims that one approach is universally better than another (I'm
not certain that Nielsen or Spool do), they're missing the point.  All
situations are different, and designs should be accordingly different.  The
best we can do is try to identify major audiences, their most important
information needs, the core content that will meet those needs, and select
from the various ways to configure searching and browsing to best meet those
needs.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: ACM SIGCHI WWW Human Factors (Open Discussion)
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Michael Fry
> Sent: Thursday, January 28, 1999 1:16 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: what to show on a search results page
>
>
> New comments below...
>
> On Thu, 28 Jan 1999, Ralph Brandi wrote:
>
> > At 12:09 PM -0500 1/27/99, Michael Fry wrote:
> > >Nichols, Charlie wrote:
> >
> > >> Certainly the navigation system on a site should be good.  But search
> > >> may be many people's preferred mode; see Jakob Nielsen's
> column on the
> > >> subject at http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9707b.html.
> > >
> > >Jared Spool et al. have suggested (in UIETips from 10/23/97) that
> > >designers should focus more on providing effective navigation than on
> > >giving users the immediate option to search a site.
> >
> > At CHI '98, I listened to both Nielsen and Spool on the topic of search.
> > On Saturday night in the first tutorial I attended, Jakob
> Nielsen told us
> > that search was absolutely critical, the most important thing on a site,
> > and should be present on every page.  In Spool's "Web Pages That Work"
> > tutorial during the day on Monday, Jared made the case that
> search doesn't
> > work, people get more lost than ever when they use it, and you should
> > forget about it and concentrate on better navigation.
> >
> > <snip>
> So I asked Jakob, if search
> > is so awful and doesn't work, why should I rush to place it on all of my
> > pages when I get home?  His answer was that yes, it was pretty
> bad, but it
> > was less bad than the alternative, which was for users to surrender and
> > leave the site.  He claimed it acts as a "life preserver" when users are
> > foundering and about to go under for the third time, and gives them one
> > more chance to find what they're looking for.  It may not
> produce success
> > as often as you would like, but it succeeds more often than
> giving up does.
> >
> > I thought that made sense.
>
>
> I think it does, too, but I wonder how many users actually think of the
> search tool as a last resort rather than as an easy out that eliminates
> the need to figure out a site's organizational structure
> (regardless of how good or bad it
> may be).
>
> In other words, I think 'search' is very seductive. Indeed, those
> fatuous Lycos ads promising users immediate success with the push of a
> button just perpetuate the belief that there's no reason to dig through
> content when you can just search for it instead. (And Lycos *has* a
> directory.)
>
> So, yes, I completely agree that as a last resort, users certainly should
> have the option to search. But, I *don't* think it's realistic to expect
> users to think of 'search' as a last resort. And while I do think there's
> a risk of losing people who can't find what they want, my hunch is that
> the consequences of a bad search are greater than the consequences of
> having users who can't find things using the navigational tools.
>
> To me, a failed search is more absolute than the uncertainty of getting
> lost or being unsuccessful with the navigation. It seems to say, "You used
> the most powerful tool at your disposal and still couldn't find it. What
> you're looking for must not exist." In my mind, it doesn't get any more
> discouraging than that. As a designer, therefore, I think my preference is
> to have users leave my site (or any site) believing that what they want
> *might* exist (if difficult to locate) rather than "It just doesn't
> exist."
>
> I'm not sure how well I've expressed myself on this one, but I think it's
> a very interesting topic...
>
> mf
>

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