[Sigia-l] search interface as IA

[Trent Mankelow]

> Quick, go take a look at the http://www.smh.com/ website ... they've
> almost
> completely done away with having a "main navigation" conceptual
framework.
> You access their entire website content via a search interface. I say
> "almost" because you'll also see a popup menu of "destinations", which
map
> closely to what would have been their top level navigation. The
advantage
> to
> using a pop up menu is that they can have longer titles for each
choice,
> whereas if they were spatially placed buttons in a main navigation
button
> grid they'd be very very cramped.

What I like is that it's the complete opposite of what Jared Spool
writes at http://www.uie.com/articles/search_stinks/ - "we suggest that
designers seriously consider not including a search engine on their
sites until the technology is equal to the challenge. In the meantime,
our testing data suggests that designers would have more success by
focusing instead on creating effective links". 

Of course, this article was written in 1997, which is 45 dog years ago. 

Trent

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