[Sigia-l] Search is broken (was: Outside In)

[Austin Govella]

Advanced search is the biggest piece of crap created, ever. Ever. It's
100% implementation model, as far from human as anything can be.

And worse, all the wonderful narrowing tools advanced search provides
have been so tainted with the labyrinthine, alchemical, esoteric
advanced search "interface", that the very concept of letting users
massage results has been totally divorced from any concept of "simple
search".

Search is an application like any other, and the existence of
separate, unequal "simple" and "advanced" interfaces shows just how
skewed, and isolated, search development has been. For 10 years.

Narrowing and filtering tools -- those typically imprisoned with
advanced search -- should be ever present, easy to use, and *inviting*
on the search page and again on the results page.

We shouldn't have simple and advanced search pages. This goes against
everything we know about application design, and segregating narrowing
and filtering options away from simple search goes against everything
we've seen from our users.

All search applications should have one search interface. And a
results interface. And a narrowing/filtering interface should
complement both.



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Austin Govella
Thinking & Making: IA, UX, and IxD
http://thinkingandmaking.com
austin.govella at gmail.com