[thelist] Searches and Usability

[Susan Wallace]

Greetings!

In setting up a new site, I have come to a point where some decisions need 
to be made about how searches are handled on the site (and even if we 
should have one in some places).

My question concerns some opinions that I have seen in various places 
online where usability information is provided.

What seems to be conflicting is the use of a search function in a site. I 
have seen articles where a search function is considered mandatory, and 
others where it is considered taboo. From what I understand, the "taboo" 
camp sees it as harmful in the instance that the visitor does not know what 
they are looking for and they try various combinations of words that they 
think would help them find something, often resulting in frustration. I 
have seen it mentioned that some folks use it as an excuse not to read 
anything on the screen, no matter how "usable" the site is deemed to be. On 
the other side of that, I have seen guidelines given for "If your site has 
xx pages or more..." then a search function is essential.

In the case of the site I am dealing with, there is a definite need in 
certain sections of the site because they are scholarly research tools 
encompassing 30 years of publications that have been saved as PDF files. I 
do not have any issues with those files, the search works just fine in that 
context. Where the issue comes up is with the more informational part of 
the site that contains general information about the organization, a few 
places to download some content of interest (i.e. mp3 files, Musical scores 
with accompanying Midi) and pretty much allowing folks to search items that 
are largely part of the site navigation and linked from the main page.

So, is there a typical opinion about this? Or does it depend largely on 
whose camp you follow and/or your site needs?

I hope that wasn't too much of a ramble.  :-)

-Susan

<tip type="CF 5 Verity Search Results">
If you are using Verity to search your site in VDK mode (the default Verity 
engine), on your results page you can use the variable #RecordsSearched# to 
show users how many documents their query searched through. A sample output 
would be:

#Search1.RecordCount# found out of #Search1.RecordsSearched# searched.

(where Search1 is the name of your Search Query)

</tip>